Olympic medal-winning diver Tom Daley is “very excited about the whole engagement thing” after announcing plans last month to wed film-maker Dustin Lance Black.

But the couple aren’t even thinking about wedding planning yet, as Tom first has to focus on his diving career – and winning gold at the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics.

Tom Daley
Tom Daley (CN Buddy Network)

Tom said: “I’m not planning anything until after Rio, but we’ll have to wait and see how things go with that.”

The two announced their engagement in The Times on October 1, with a traditional notice reading: “The engagement is announced between Tom, son of Robert and Debra Daley of Plymouth, and Lance, son of Jeff Bisch of Philadelphia and Anne Bisch of Lake Providence.”

Tom, 21, said: “We had no idea what the reaction would be. We just put it out into the newspapers to let friends and family know, like anyone else normally would, so it was just another day for us.”

Tom Daley and Dustin Lance Black's wedding notice in The Times
Tom Daley and Dustin Lance Black’s wedding notice in The Times (PA)

The diver came out in December 2013 as being attracted to men in a home-made YouTube video, in which he shared the news with his fans.

Looking back, he said: “Nearly two years on, it’s something that I feel has gone really well. People have been so supportive of me, in sport, outside of sport, in everyday life – it’s been really nice actually.

“And you always build it up to be this thing that’s going to be the end of the world, and actually it really isn’t.”

Launching a campaign to tie in with National Anti-Bullying Week, he had a message for LGBTQ youth who suffer from bullying: “I definitely think that people who are LGBTQ in school often suffer a lot more from the bullying and things like that.

“But it’s about not being ashamed of who you are, and it’s about being your own inspiration, and you don’t have to worry about what everyone else is doing, what everyone else is thinking.

“Be who you want to be. Be who you are. Be your own hero.”

Tom Daley
(Andrew Milligan/PA)

Tom has spoken out about bullying since after he was picked on at school in Plymouth as a teenager.

Speaking to the Press Association, he said: “The bullying that I suffered at school was so many different things. It was name-calling, people throwing things at me – there’s so many different levels of it.

“And it’s just one of the points where you just don’t want to go to school, and you don’t feel like – because you know what awaits you. You don’t want to go to school because you know that that person’s going to be there, or that group of people, and nobody should ever have to feel like that.”

Tom Daley in 2008
Tom Daley in 2008 (Michael Sohn/AP)

On his anti-bullying campaigning efforts, he said: “It’s just about trying to make people feel like they’re not alone: so many people get bullied, and just being able to spread the message of how to combat the issue and get rid of it.

“Because at the end of the day, it’s not acceptable for any bullying to take place in any location.”

Tom Daley is ambassador for Cartoon Network’s anti-bullying campaign, CN Buddy Network, which launches on November 16.