Fred Sirieix (right) told his daughter Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix (second right) he was ‘bursting’ with pride after she won an Olympic bronze medal
First Dates star Fred Sirieix was left fighting back tears after his daughter won Olympic diving bronze on Wednesday morning.
Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix, 19, and Lois Toulson, 24, produced a brilliant last-round dive to snatch the final spot on the podium after falling down the leaderboard following a below-par third dive.
They looked to be out of medal contention, but bounced back impressively to snatch bronze, and Sirieix was delighted for the pair as he spoke to his daughter live on the BBC after they shared a warm embrace.
‘What a competition! It’s always a rollercoaster with you girls,’ Sirieix said, bringing a giggle from the GB pair.
‘You really took me around the bend and through the middle. But that last dive, that was spectacular. You knew you had to put it through and you pulled it back. It was amazing.
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Spendolini-Sirieix and Lois Toulson (right) burst into tears after winning a medal with their final dive
🗣”It’s always a rollercoaster with you girls… you took me around the bend!” 😆@fredsirieix1 was bursting with pride after his daughter Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix sealed a diving bronze with Lois Toulson 🤗#Paris2024 #Olympics #bbcolympics pic.twitter.com/JVZdUyDZyE
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) July 31, 2024
‘I’m in awe with what they’ve achieved. It’s an amazing journey for them, they’ve won a medal, they’ve shown their class. I’m just very impressed and very happy for you. I’m so proud, I’m bursting.’
Addressing their comeback from a seemingly hopeless position, a tearful Spendolini-Sirieix said: After front (dive) it was a little bit of a woopsy-daysys, but after inward (dive) it was never back down, no matter what. Just keep on pushing, don’t give up. We had two more rounds left, we could do it, and if anyone could do it, it would be us.
‘Be strong, be courageous. Just throw yourself off! We needed to do the last dive.’
Toulson added that she embraced taking on the role of the underdog as the British duo battled back to earn a medal.
‘I feel like it’s sometimes easier when you know you’ve got to do a good dive, almost like the underdog and you’ve got to keep fighting,’ she explained.
‘It really spurred us on to do our last two dives as well as we could.’
Spendolini-Sirieix then revealed why she was always confident that she and Toulson could turn their fortunes around after their mid-competition slip-up.
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Spendolini-Sirieix supported her team-mate as Toulson burst into tears after thanking her own family
‘Every single competition we’ve done since we started we’ve got a synchro medal. So, of course, it was possible,’ she said. ‘But being here now, it’s surreal.’
Sirieix was beaming with pride throughout the interview having been in Paris all week to support his daughter, and Toulson also expressed her gratitude towards her own family before bursting into tears.
She received a supportive hug from Spendolini-Sirieix, who exclaimed: ‘We’re all crying today!’
It was happy tears all around, and the celebrating wasn’t done there, as Sirieix took to X afterwards to post a short video as he told the world: ‘This is the most beautiful feeling. I am bursting with happiness and joy. I feel like I’m going to explode!
‘Girls, well done. Thank you very much for this amazing day. To you,’ as he raised a glass of champagne.
It was certainly an emotional morning for the pair as they sealed Team GB’s third diving medal of the week with several days of competition still remaining.
