Strictly Come Dancing 2024 confirms Olympic swimmer Tom Dean for line-up

Those who will be competing to lift the Glitterball in the Strictly 2024 cast include Chris McCausland, JB Gill, Wynne Evans, Toyah Willcox, Dr Punam Krishan, Tasha Ghouri and Pete Wicks. Alongside those, Sarah Hadland and Shayne Ward were revealed earlier today to be joining the cast.

Following in the footsteps of fellow athletes such as Ellie Simmonds and James Cracknell, Tom Dean has joined this year's line-up – and he was clearly very eager to tell viewers as he slipped up and revealed his participation before being officially announced!

But just who is Tom Dean? Read on to find out more about the swimmer and Strictly Come Dancing 2024 contestant.

Who is Tom Dean?

Age: 24

Job: Competitive freestyle swimmer

Instagram: @tomdean00

X: @tomdean00

Tom Dean is a freestyle competitive swimmer who has competed in championships and the Olympics.

He began his career by breaking records at the European Junior Championships in 2017 and 2018 when he won gold in the 200m individual medley.

He then became the first British male swimmer in 113 years to win two golds at the same Olympics in 2021 when he competed individually and as part of his team.

At the 2024 Olympics, he also won the relay alongside teammates James Guy, Matt Richards and Duncan Scott.

He was made an MBE in the New Year's Honours list in 2022 for his contributions to swimming.

What has Tom Dean said about joining Strictly 2024?

Before he was officially confirmed to be taking part in Strictly Come Dancing 2024, Tom let it slip he would be putting on his dancing shoes.

After his win at the 2024 Olympics, he accidentally blabbed that he was set to swap the swimming pool for the ballroom and made reference to fellow Olympic swimmer Adam Peaty, who was partnered with Katya Jones on Strictly in 2021.

"Naturally, you want to take a break after you've had a full Olympic cycle, and the opportunity arose," he said. "I thought it would be really exciting to try something a bit different. I'll be doing that and straight back into training after it. It's something to look forward to."

However, when he was pressed about it during an interview with Capital FM, he looked flustered and swerved the topic.

"I'm just focused on enjoying the Olympic moment right now and spending a lot of time with my teammates, and I'll see what the summer holds," he explained.

Confirming the news, Tom said in a statement: "I am taking part in Strictly Come Dancing 2024! You may have heard me accidentally say it poolside first… but now I can officially talk about how excited I am to get stuck into something new, meet some brilliant people and get dancing. Bring it on!"

Strictly Come Dancing will return later this year.

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