SOUTHAMPTON diver Peter Waterfield was the pride of Hampshire at the weekend after winning a silver medal at the Athens Olympics.

THE biggest celebration for Southampton diver Pete Waterfield's silver success in the Olympics wasn't at the poolside in Athens, but at his 20th floor flat home in Millbrook's Windermere Avenue.

There, 13 family and friends of the 23-year-old diver crowded around the television screen to watch him earn Britain's first medal of the Olympics in the synchronised 10-metre diving event.

They scrutinised every move with nervous excitement as Pete and diving partner Leon Taylor twisted and somersaulted in the air for each of the five dives during the 45 minute contest on Saturday night.

Right until the very last - and hardest - dive there was no guarantee of a medal.

But both gave the performance of their lives and the rousing cheers of the crowd were enough to show that they had done enough to secure a place on the podium.

It's a moment Pete's fiance Tania will treasure forever.

"Before the last dive, we were all staring at the screen holding hands. As they went into the water we could see it was a good result.

"We could hear the crowd jumping up and down before we even saw the results come up on the screen."

So impressed was three-year-old son Lewis with his dad's performance he blew kisses at the television screen.

He was allowed to stay up past his 7.30pm bedtime to watch the once-in-a-lifetime event and was justly rewarded with a message from Pete during a television interview saying "Tania and Lewis I love you."

Tania said: "I was very nervous and excited watching it. There were so many people here with my mum, sister and friends," said 22-year-old Tania who works as a part-time sales assistant.

"I am so proud of them both.

"They really deserve it because they have been coming third and fourth all the time and have been working so hard together."

Tania spoke to Pete at 1am yesterday morning to congratulate him .

"I just could not believe it. I am so proud. They just so wanted a medal. They are a great diving partnership as well as great friends."

It's the highlight of Pete's career which Tania has supported 100 per cent of the way ever since they met at The Quays, where she used to do a bit of diving herself.

The couple plan to marry in two years time.

For Tania, a former Millbrook Community School pupil, Pete's achievement is even more remarkable after he injured his ankle six weeks before the games.

"The day it happened I thought he definitely wouldn't make it to the Olympics. He went up to the England Institute of Sport in Sheffield and got about three to four hours of physiotherapy and massage a day."

"I asked him how it was and he said it was fine but a bit puffy."

Tania is flying out to Greece on August 25 for four days to watch Pete perform in the ten metre individual diving event thanks to funding from close friends.

"Watching it at home and looking at the pool it really dawned on me that I am going to be there. Unfortunately I couldn't go the Sydney Olympics because I was pregnant with Lewis."

And it appears that Lewis could be on the way to following in his father's footsteps - loving nothing more than splashing around in the water and swimming without armbands.