Former Olympian getting his buzz from tree surgery

"Looking back at it, I still don't know how I did it," says a tree surgeon with a past life as an Olympic diver.

Pete Waterfield, who lives in Southampton, won a silver medal in the 10m synchro at the Athens Olympics in 2004 and finished an agonising fourth place in the same event in London 2012, while diving alongside Tom Daley.

"It was my dream to be able to go and compete in an Olympics and to be able to get an Olympic medal is a dream come true," he said.

The 45-year-old retired in 2013 but says he now gets a "buzz" from being suspended from a great height rather than falling from one.

Waterfield spoke to former sprinter Iwan Thomas as part of a new Olympic show Thomas is co-presenting with wheelchair rugby player and gold medal-winning Paralympian Aaron Phipps on BBC Radio Solent.

Waterfield told his Team GB compatriot that nothing really prepared him for the end of his diving career, describing it as a "sudden stop".

"It is like you're mourning a little bit because you miss it so much," he said.

He said he missed the fitness, the achievements and the recognition that comes with being an Olympian.

After retiring from diving, he worked as an inspirational speaker in schools, and when that came to an end, a teammate from his local football club introduced him to tree surgery.

He remembered seeing climbers up trees and thinking how "exciting" it looked.

He said this was exactly how he fell in love with diving when he was a child, peering up at the divers while he was swimming in the pool below.

Originally from London, he moved to Southampton once the Quays diving centre had been built as it gave him the opportunity to train full-time.

"Without coming to Southampton and doing that, I definitely, 100% would not have made it to the Olympics," Waterfield said.

Alongside his Olympic success he also won World and European Championship bronze medals and a gold in the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, followed by a silver in Melbourne in 2006.

Waterfield spoke fondly about his time diving with Tom Daley, who became a poster boy for the sport after competing in the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

"It was amazing to have met him, dived with him and competed with him," he said.

Training six hours a day and hitting the water at 35mph for many years has taken its toll on Waterfield's body and he has undergone multiple shoulder surgeries.

He said he has been in pain since he retired but doing an active job like tree surgery had helped.

"It's a physical job and I'm good at using my body so that's why I really enjoy it," he said.

"I love doing the tree work, it gives me that buzz that diving used to give me. I'm a bit older now so I don't really want to do somersaults anymore."

He said he had no regrets and hoped he could provide some inspiration to younger people aspiring for a career in sport.

He said: "If you find something you really love and you enjoy, just give it your best shot because you never know where it can take you.

"I didn't expect to go to the Olympics, let alone get a medal. The fact that I went and got a medal just shows that your dreams can come true."

You can follow BBC Hampshire & Isle of Wight on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.