Matty Lee: Team GB Olympic champion to miss Paris 2024 after surgery – ‘I’ve been put out of my misery’

Defending Olympic champion Matty Lee has been ruled out of the Paris 2024 Games after undergoing spinal surgery.

The 26-year-old was hoping to defend the 10 metres synchro crown, which he famously won alongside Tom Daley in Tokyo three years ago.

However, he has been struggling with back pain throughout the current season, and decided to go under the knife to get the problem sorted.

The result is that he is now “pain free” but a lengthy recovery process means he will not be in France later this year.

“A week ago today, I went under for a discectomy on my L5/S1 disc in my spine,”

. “The surgery went well, but my surgeon told me my nerve was very stuck and it took longer than expected to remove my bulging disc without damaging my nerve.

“He also told me it wouldn’t have got better on its own so to have the surgery was the right decision.”

Lee has enjoyed a glittering career so far, which reached its pinnacle when landing gold at Tokyo 2020.

In the same year, he won the European Championship, and added the Commonwealth title two years ago.

That pair are now set to head to France, but the same cannot be said for Lee, who continued: “What this means for me this year is self explanatory which is very sad but the reason I look so damn happy in hospital is that I’m no longer in chronic pain, we’ve found a solution and I have something to work on.

“This season so far has been really tough, felt like I’ve been dragging myself through the dirt. In a weird way I’ve been put out of my misery but it’s also forced me to look after myself and that’s what’s important.”