HE has the precise spatial awareness of the gymnast and the tough mentality of the boxer. He tucks, tumbles, twists and twirls, before scything into the water leaving barely a ripple in his wake.

He has the perfectly lean and taut body of the diver, although his five foot two inch, seven-and-a-half stone frame has some growing left to do. Tom Daley will need somewhat larger and stronger shoulders to bear the burden of national expectations that will fall upon him between now and London 2012.

The 13-year-old from Plymouth, who has already qualified to become Britain's youngest Olympian in Beijing this summer, outdived the competition in Holland at the weekend to become the youngest European champion off the 10-metre platform.

Standing on the podium, grinning broadly and showing his dental braces, Tom proudly held up his gold medal to the cameras and later reportedly celebrated by snacking on a Pot Noodle.

Until recently, Tom Daley's target was to hit the peak of form in time for potential Olympic glory in front of the home crowd in four years' time. But, with his qualification for this year's event, he is well ahead of schedule and will be 14 years and 81 days when he parades in his extra-small Team GB blazer in China. His ever-present father Rob, and coach Andy Banks will be with him every step of the way. But, however much they fret about his training, sleep, nutrition and mental attitude, only this slight teenager can actually do the business. And only he can deal with the national mood, which will swings back and forth, whether his dives are textbook perfect or wildly off the mark.

The trouble with being a British sporting star is that those with true gold medal chances are as rare as hen's teeth. When an amazing young talent does emerge, we have a frenzied tendency to swamp them with attention, speculation, admiration... then drop them when they prove to be human.

When, like that much-hyped footballing talent Theo Walcott, they have an "off" day, or even an "off" season, we're pretty unforgiving. Suddenly all that love turns to disappoint-ment. The armchair footballers of the country shake their fists in rage when he fluffs a pass or hits the bar. People scream at their screens about wasted talent and overpaid wastrel lifestyle.

But, getting back to young Tom, while it's a terrific thrill to see such prodigious talent embodied in one so young, and it would be easy to become carried away with hopes that he will wreath our sad Olympic nation in garlands, we should think of previous prodigies and hold back.

Few of us possess the kind of self-discipline Tom Daley must have in spades alongside his natural talent, but we really must try to refrain from joining in the hype that has so hindered other lives and careers.

The names of singers Lena Zavaroni and Britney Spears come to mind, as do teenage tennis star Jennifer Capriati and countless Eastern European gymnasts, whose fragile young minds could not cope with being the person others wanted them to be.

Zavaroni died at 35, ravaged by decades of eating disorders. She perhaps never felt she could be just Lena, when all the public wanted was Lena Who Could Belt A Song Out From Here To Glasgow.

Poor Britney Spears's life began to spiral out of control when she was still in her teens but already a millionaire with a vast entourage of hangers-on.

What with a Las Vegas wedding that lasted only hours, years of partying and losing custody of her two children because of her lifestyle, it's doubtful whether the Brit Roadshow ever allowed her to get off and just hang around a mall with high school friends or go to a sleepover where everyone gets to have a go at singing into a hairbrush.

Jennifer Capriati said last year that she couldn't remember when she first had had thoughts of killing herself, although she has never actually attempted suicide. The former Grand Slam champion, former number one in the world, and 1992 Olympic gold medallist was reduced to a lost soul, a woman in the grip of depression who had spent years with no sense of purpose or self-worth.

As tennis ace Pam Shriver said: "She's the most hyped player of all time... Nobody can operate with those kinds of expectations without repercussions." At 18, Capriati burned out and took flight, becoming the poster girl for the dangers of too much, too soon.

She had a Lazarus-like comeback, but has battled
with depression, injury and self-belief ever since. Looking back, she told one newspaper that if she had a daughter who showed sporting ability, she would not force-feed stardom but encourage her to have fun – rather than becoming consumed, as she did, by all the expectations and seriousness of it all.

While we marvel at the talent that is young Tom Daley, let's not forget that diving like a swallow is only part of who he is. He wants to do himself, his family and his coach proud. He's under no obligation to do anything to please the rest of us.

It would be a fairytale, in one sense, if he became a medallist in Beijing, but it could also be a curse.

Let's just hope he has fun in China, feeling properly awed by the more adult talent around him.

And, when he's had another four years to be a young lad, he arrives at London 2012 with the maturity he needs to face worldwide stardom, he will at last have those broader shoulders to deal with the fickleness of fame.