With unprecedented access and never before seen archive, the film chronicles his legendary sporting achievements, but, for the first time, also reveals the personal struggles he faced to rise from the humblest of beginnings to become the ultimate Olympian; a Superstar who then has to reconcile what it took to become the greatest All around athlete in the world with his own humanity as a son and as a father.
The film takes Daley from the streets of his boyhood in Notting Hill to Olympia, the site of the Ancient Games where his iconic event began, an epic journey told from around the world: with Seb Coe at the 2023 World Championships in Hungary; with his nemesis and now friend, Jurgen Hingsen, at the Coliseum in Los Angeles, the setting for their titanic battle in 1984, where Daley’s irresistible will to win snatched victory from the German world record holder and firm favourite; and with Caitlyn Jenner, the legendary American decathlete, who Daley watched in awe, when, as Bruce, he set a new benchmark for the decathlon at the Montreal Games.
For this film, Daley goes to places, emotionally and psychologically, where he’s never gone before, to narrate a compelling story about the complex man behind the greatest all around athlete the world has ever seen. As a unique cast of characters, the film’s contributors bring their personal perspectives of the man they know so well: competitors, coaches, mentors, training partners, friends and family. They offer unprecedented insight into Daley’s public persona, but also into his private world:
Lord Sebastian Coe, Caitlyn Jenner, Steve Cram, Colin Jackson, Dame Denise Lewis, Tessa Sanderson, Linford Christie, Stuart Storey, Sharron Davies and his great German rival now friend Jurgen Hingsen.
His remarkable career also shines a light on the momentous issues impacting on sport at the time: racism, drugs, commercialisation and global politics. As 2024 marks the fortieth anniversary of Daley’s second gold medal at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984, a Games of global political boycotts and commercial profit, he is able to offer us a powerful commentary on a contemporary sporting world facing the very same timeless issues and controversies today.
The film is cinematic in its scope, scale and ambition, made for a day and date cinema/broadcast release around this year’s Paris Olympics. It is a film that will define him as a unique athlete, who, like Senna or Maradona, is a genuine sporting legend known simply by one name, DALEY.