SOUTHAMPTON'S Peter Waterfield and his diving partner Leon Taylor launched Britain on the Olympic medal trail on day one of the Games in Athens - and simultaneously ended a 44-year drought.

Their silver in the 10m platform synchronised competition was Britain's first diving medal since Brian Phelps and Liz Ferris each won bronze at the Rome Olympics in 1960.

It was also the first silver medal for 84 years.

Britain's second place behind top diving nation China was made all the sweeter by the memory of the last Olympics in Sydney, where Waterfield, 23, and 26-year-old Taylor finished in that worst of all positions - fourth.

It also came in the wake of a freak injury which until a few weeks ago threatened to keep Waterfield out of the Games altogether.

The Quays-based diver sustained soft tissue damage after twisting his ankle during one of the ballet classes he uses to improve his balance for platform diving.

"I was standing on my toes and went over on my ankle," he said. "I was sure I had broken it - I couldn't even walk for two weeks.

"My world fell apart. I thought my Games were over. I just couldn't see past the injury."

But Waterfield, who is also Commonwealth individual 10m champion, managed to recover in the nick of time and just before midnight Greek time on Saturday all past injuries and disappointments were forgotten.

"It's a brilliant feeling," he said. "We were aware that it was 44 years since the last British medal.

"That was a lot of pressure but we dealt with that.

"It's all come together at the right time and we've worked really hard for this since Sydney.

"It was an amazing feeling and it's really special to win the first British medal of the Games."

Waterfield added: "This will help to raise the profile of diving in Britain and hopefully everybody will watch it a bit more."

Taylor, who played the part of an injured diver in the TV soap Hollyoaks a couple of years ago, said: "It's not the gold and the gold was within our grasp.

"But it's still very sweet and we are ecstatic to get the silver medal. It's a fantastic start to the Games and it's just onwards and upwards for us now."

Waterfield and Taylor did not make the best of starts and were lying fifth after their first two dives.

But 87.12 points for a back three-and-a-half somersault with tuck in round three outscored everyone except the Chinese and pushed them up to second place.

They fared even better - 88.74 - with their fourth round effort of a reverse three and a half somersault tuck, which again only the Chinese pair of Tian and Yang were able to better.

But the Britons saved their most challenging dive until last. Their back two and a half somersault with two and a half twists carries a high degree of difficulty - 3.8.

This means that the score awarded by the judges is multiplied by a factor of 3.8 and so is potentially worth more than any less demanding dive.

Taylor and Waterfield's score came out at 90.06 giving them a total score of 371.51 points.

China were just 12 ahead with 383.88 with Australia's world champions Matthew Helm and Robert Newbery snatching the bronze from the Ukraine thanks to the final dive score of 94.62.

Waterfield said: "We were last to dive in each round which also increases the pressure.

"We knew what we had to do on that last dive and the atmosphere may have affected me a bit. I went a bit little bit early because I was so fired up. That can be a problem once I've gone because Leon can't catch me up."

Waterfield all explained how he and Taylor managed to training together despite being based 200 miles from each other at Southampton and Sheffield.

"We get together once or twice a month for a week at a time and that's how we do it," he said.