Tonia Couch criticises GB diving chief Alexei Evangulov

By Brent Pilnick BBC Sport at the Plymouth Life Centre Tonia Couch has criticised British Diving's performance director Alexei Evangulov for the way he handled the decision not to pick her for the individual 10m event at London 2012.

Couch lost an appeal against the decision on Thursday.

"The manager didn't tell me himself," the 23-year-old told BBC Sport.

"Communication was needed and we didn't have any of that. Hopefully in the future he's learnt his lesson and maybe we'll start communicating."

Couch, who is back in training in her home town of Plymouth, considered appealing to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) but instead is concentrating on the 10m synchro pairs, for which she has been selected with partner Sarah Barrow.

They are the reigning European champions after winning the first female British gold medal for 74 years and have also been successful at the World Series and the World Cup.

Such a run of form makes them strong medal contenders for London, although Couch admitted the dispute over her non-selection for the individual event will leave a sour taste.

"Yes, I'm absolutely gutted, but there's nothing I can do.

"We already got told it was a 'no' from the boss and then we got told it was a 'no' again on the appeal," she added.

"We didn't want to take it any further because I just want to focus on what I have to do and put everything else to one side.

"We can do really well, we've had a good year, but there's six people fighting for those three medals so it's going to be tough.

"We'll have to see how it goes on the day, our training's going really well, we got a British record at the nationals, so fingers crossed that everything goes into London and we do well."

Tom Daley says coach Evangulov good for GB Olympic diving

By Nick Hope BBC Olympic sports reporter European champion Tom Daley insists the row with GB performance director Alexei Evangulov over the diver's media commitments is firmly "in the past".

In February, Evangulov suggested Daley's career could emulate that of Russian tennis player Anna Kournikova  if he did not spend more time training.

"Alexei is what British diving has needed - he has really shaken the GB Olympic team," said Daley.

"I've trained as hard as I can and we have a really good relationship."

Evangulov admits he was "surprised" by the media reaction to his comments earlier in the year, when he suggested that, like Kournikova, Daley was in danger of being more famous as a celebrity than for sporting achievement.

But he said he had been impressed by Daley's subsequent performances since the disappointment of finishing seventh alongside Peter Waterfield at the Olympic test event.

"Tom has a great personality, but it's not enough to be a great athlete - you have to work hard," said the Russian.

"[Tom] works hard and his training volume is high, but I'm a greedy coach and I want more."

Evangulov added: "Tom's competed well, getting medals in the World Series individually and in synchro, but I'm tough and demanding - that's it."

Daley, Waterfield, Stacie Powell and Jack Laugher confirmed at GB Diving's news conference that they would all be attending Friday's Olympic opening ceremony.

Waterfield and Daley will compete together on day three of the Games, Monday 30 August, but they dismissed any concerns that their attendance could affect their performances in the 10m platform synchronised final.

"The question was asked, but we have a few days before we compete after the ceremony so it shouldn't affect us," said Waterfield.

"If it was a different Olympics we may have made a different decision, but we couldn't miss that experience at a home Games."

Daley wants Olympic success for his family

Daley continued: "We had a big discussion and decided that the psychological benefits of getting out there and hearing that support and applause would outweigh any other reason not for doing it."

The double Commonwealth champion also revealed that in the 11-day gap between competing in the 10m synchronised and individual competitions he will leave the athletes' village and return to GB Diving's pre-Games base in Southend, Essex.

"From my experience working with the Russian team we always try to escape from the Olympic environment because you can be exhausted emotionally," Evangulov said.

"You can be good physically but emotionally you can be tired.

"That's why we decided to get a rest from the Olympic environment - we needed some solitude."

Alexei Evangulov and Tom Daley both insist that any issues between them concerning the diver's training regime and media commitments are firmly in the past

Tom Daley says coach Evangulov good for GB Olympic diving

By Nick Hope BBC Olympic sports reporter European champion Tom Daley insists the row with GB performance director Alexei Evangulov over the diver's media commitments is firmly "in the past".

In February, Evangulov suggested Daley's career could emulate that of Russian tennis player Anna Kournikova  if he did not spend more time training.

"Alexei is what British diving has needed - he has really shaken the GB Olympic team," said Daley.

"I've trained as hard as I can and we have a really good relationship."

Evangulov admits he was "surprised" by the media reaction to his comments earlier in the year, when he suggested that, like Kournikova, Daley was in danger of being more famous as a celebrity than for sporting achievement.

But he said he had been impressed by Daley's subsequent performances since the disappointment of finishing seventh alongside Peter Waterfield at the Olympic test event.

"Tom has a great personality, but it's not enough to be a great athlete - you have to work hard," said the Russian.

"[Tom] works hard and his training volume is high, but I'm a greedy coach and I want more."

Evangulov added: "Tom's competed well, getting medals in the World Series individually and in synchro, but I'm tough and demanding - that's it."

Daley, Waterfield, Stacie Powell and Jack Laugher confirmed at GB Diving's news conference that they would all be attending Friday's Olympic opening ceremony.

Waterfield and Daley will compete together on day three of the Games, Monday 30 August, but they dismissed any concerns that their attendance could affect their performances in the 10m platform synchronised final.

"The question was asked, but we have a few days before we compete after the ceremony so it shouldn't affect us," said Waterfield.

"If it was a different Olympics we may have made a different decision, but we couldn't miss that experience at a home Games."

Daley wants Olympic success for his family

Daley continued: "We had a big discussion and decided that the psychological benefits of getting out there and hearing that support and applause would outweigh any other reason not for doing it."

The double Commonwealth champion also revealed that in the 11-day gap between competing in the 10m synchronised and individual competitions he will leave the athletes' village and return to GB Diving's pre-Games base in Southend, Essex.

"From my experience working with the Russian team we always try to escape from the Olympic environment because you can be exhausted emotionally," Evangulov said.

"You can be good physically but emotionally you can be tired.

"That's why we decided to get a rest from the Olympic environment - we needed some solitude."

Alexei Evangulov and Tom Daley both insist that any issues between them concerning the diver's training regime and media commitments are firmly in the past

Tonia Couch criticises GB diving chief Alexei Evangulov

By Brent Pilnick BBC Sport at the Plymouth Life Centre Tonia Couch has criticised British Diving's performance director Alexei Evangulov for the way he handled the decision not to pick her for the individual 10m event at London 2012.

Couch lost an appeal against the decision on Thursday.

"The manager didn't tell me himself," the 23-year-old told BBC Sport.

"Communication was needed and we didn't have any of that. Hopefully in the future he's learnt his lesson and maybe we'll start communicating."

Couch, who is back in training in her home town of Plymouth, considered appealing to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) but instead is concentrating on the 10m synchro pairs, for which she has been selected with partner Sarah Barrow.

They are the reigning European champions after winning the first female British gold medal for 74 years and have also been successful at the World Series and the World Cup.

Such a run of form makes them strong medal contenders for London, although Couch admitted the dispute over her non-selection for the individual event will leave a sour taste.

"Yes, I'm absolutely gutted, but there's nothing I can do.

"We already got told it was a 'no' from the boss and then we got told it was a 'no' again on the appeal," she added.

"We didn't want to take it any further because I just want to focus on what I have to do and put everything else to one side.

"We can do really well, we've had a good year, but there's six people fighting for those three medals so it's going to be tough.

"We'll have to see how it goes on the day, our training's going really well, we got a British record at the nationals, so fingers crossed that everything goes into London and we do well."