Tom Daley knits while watching Olympic springboard final

Tom Daley - Olympic gold medallist, national treasure, LGBT icon… and non-stop knitter.

The diving hero caused a stir among Olympic TV viewers up early to watch the women's 3m springboard final on Sunday morning, when the cameras panned to the spectator stands and caught Tom watching the action while knitting.

Social media was deluged with images of the 27-year-old, wearing his Team GB kit and obligatory mask, wielding needles and purple wool in the Tokyo Aquatics Centre.

The moment came ahead of the third round of dives, shortly after China's Shi Tingmao completed her second dive, cementing her lead. No British divers were competing.

"There's Tom Daley - he's got his knitting needles out," said BBC commentator Katherine Downes, during live coverage on Sunday morning.

"What do you reckon he's crafting there? I wonder who he's making that purple concoction for?"

The knitting appeared to be some sort of hat, with a cream trim - and may be intended for his young son, Robbie - although Tom himself has yet to comment on his latest creation.

The British diver, who won his first Olympic gold alongside Matty Lee in the synchronised 10m platform event last Monday, has called knitting "his secret weapon".

Earlier in the week, he showed off "a little cosy" which he had knitted for his gold medal "to stop it getting scratched". The pouch is emblazoned with the Union Jack on one side and the Japanese flag on the other.

"The one thing that has kept me sane throughout this whole process is my love for knitting and crochet and all things stitching," he told followers on his Instagram knitting page madewithlovebytomdaley.

The dedicated page has 100,000 followers and is a platform for Tom's many woolly creations.

Sunday's knitting antics quickly found their way onto Twitter, with a pinned post on the official Olympics feed and another on Team GB.

Making use of the downtime between dives, while keeping his eye on the action, Tom's crafting even merited attention in the Chinese press.

And unsurprisingly, given his quasi-celebrity status, Tom's knitting cameo found many admirers - notably from Italy.

"I have a new idol," wrote one fan.

"Does the perfect man exist? Yes" - agreed another.

Meanwhile, the British diver's national treasure status is, it seems, secured.

Others suggested the medallist may have started a new trend - and haberdasheries everywhere should be poised for a mad dash of wannabe knitters.

Tom's diving career began when he was a fresh-faced 14-year-old at Beijing 2008, with Tokyo marking his fourth Olympic Games.

Today, 20 years after his Olympic debut, he has an army of 8m social media followers, is married to an Oscar-winning Hollywood screenwriter and is globally recognised as a spokesperson for the LGBT community.

Monday's gold medal success saw him become the first British diver to win three Olympic medals, having won two Bronze medals previously.

As part of Covid restrictions, Olympic athletes are required to leave the Japanese capital within 48 hours of their event - but Tom still has one dive left to do, which explains why he is hanging around the Aquatics Centre.

The individual 10m platform event is the last in the diving programme in Tokyo, with preliminaries held on Friday 6 August and the final taking place on Saturday 7 August.

Sunday's knitting, which Tom has described as "part of my mindfulness routine", is hopefully keeping his fingers busy and his mind clear ahead of the next challenge.