LONDON - Teenage diving sensation Tom Daley, one of Britain's best London Olympic prospects, found himself at the center of a row over fears media work could harm his chances of winning a medal.

Daley has become a poster boy for the Games, which take place in just more than five months' time.

But British Diving's performance director, Alexei Evangulov, warned the 17-year-old must match the preparations of his Chinese rivals, who he said "train three times harder", if he was to be on the podium.

However, Daley said: "Leading into competition, I am on complete media lockdown. I only have a media day that is organized through British Swimming, so literally I am not allowed to talk to anyone in the lead-in to big competitions.

"So it is definitely very controlled now."

Although he has some say in Daley's life away from the pool, Evangulov was concerned by his media commitments: "I can't stop it. If I had power over this, I would restrict it.

"Sometimes it hinders our preparations but I can't do anything about it," the Russian said.

"If you look at the Chinese, they work three times harder. That's the only secret. Just work hard.

"I know how the Chinese are training and they work much harder. If you compare them to Thomas, he has many commitments in his media activities.

"The Chinese have restricted their divers and I support them on this. I would recommend Tom to make not so many commitments to the media."

Daley shot to fame aged 15 in 2009 when he became Britain's first diving world champion, but Evangulov and Daley's camp said China's Qui Bo, the 2011 world champion in a 10-meter platform competition where the Briton finished fifth, was the man to beat in London.

"Fifth. That really was his rating at that moment," Evangulov said.

"The people in Great Britain are mistakenly convinced that he (Daley) is the best in the world, but he is not. He's very strong and he's one of the best, but he is not the best."

And a statement issued by Daley's team said: "We fully agree that British public expectation is too high around Tom."

Agence France-Presse

(China Daily 02/22/2012 page22)