'We didn't dive our best, actually this is probably our worst result in a competition,' said the boy wonder, who has won prestigious personality awards back home, as well as enough cups, medals and shields to fill a mantlepiece as long as the Badaling section of the Great Wall.

Judging by his very boyish photo on his Olympic biography, Daley should have been spending his school summer holidays like other youngsters - climbing trees with grazed knees and with a piece of string and a half-eaten chocolate bar in his pocket. And blissfully ignoring pleas by mum to do his homework.

His dive mate Aldridge now wishes Daley was playing his Nintendo Wii or chasing after girls, instead of wanting to be an Olympian before he grew up.

Aldridge, who at 26 will struggle for another tuck and pike at future Olympics, claimed the fountain of fresh-faced youth that is Tom Daley drowned his high-board dreams.

The senior member of the pair, who watched his chances of glory wither in the glare of the Water Cube's spotlights, is in agreement with George Bernard Shaw when he said words to the effect that juvenescence is horribly squandered on anyone under 25.

Nerves got the better of the teen, spat Aldridge as he packed away his towel for the last time - and cost them any chance of a medal.

'Tom was very, very nervous, more than ever before, and I think he really struggled to get through the competition,' said Aldridge after the anti-climax and the thought of a long-haul flight home empty-handed had sunk in.

He added: 'And as his partner, it was hard for me to get up there and ease him into this competition.

'Unfortunately, it's a partnership and you both have to be on top of your game. I was on top of my game, but Tom was nowhere near the top of his.'

He then asserted: 'I out-dived Tom and that's not normally something that happens. It's because Tom had a lot more pressure on him than I did.

'At the end of the day Tom's 14 years old. He's done phenomenally. For me to be part of the partnership with him is a great thing. I knew we were capable of a medal, but I knew going into this tournament it would depend on how Tom performed.'

Ending the critique with avuncular understanding didn't wash with those of us watching in the media gallery with binoculars.

The tension between the two could be felt across the water. And Aldridge explained why.

'I saw my mum in the audience and I asked her to give me a call, and Tom said to me, 'Why are you on the phone? We're in a competition - we've got another dive to do.' Tom should not have been worried about what I was doing. But he was worried about everyone and everything. That, to me, is the sole reason why he didn't perform,' he said.

You just knew the attack on little Tom, who only wanted to play with big boys and win a medal, was going to get the parents involved.

'If he upsets Tom, he'll have me to deal with,' said dad Rob Daley, referring to his son's next showing in the individual 10m platform competition.

'I don't see how Tom let the side down at all. He was bound to be nervous. He is 14,' he added.

Yet for Aldridge, that is the whole point. 'Beijing Tom', as the mainland press dubbed him, has at least two more Olympics in which to shine.

Sour grapes aside, perhaps what young Daley can do when he goes back to school in September to redeem himself, is challenge his science teacher over how, in Beijing, he witnessed Newton's laws of motion exploded by two human swallows who appeared to defy the effects of gravity to present midair perfection. His competitors, Chinese divers Lin Yue and Huo Liang, romped to gold in a breathless, flawless performance.

The teenage pair won with nearly 18 points to spare. Having come out and scored a perfect 10 from one of the judges in the first round, they improved in the second with the judges awarding seven 10s and a 9.5.

What is it with these fine hosts of ours, and their obsession with gravity-defying acts - high standards that the rest of the world are finding hard to match?

The difference in years between Tom Daley and Blake Aldridge is: 12