Tom Daley stands at the back of the platform visualising his next dive, his lips moving almost imperceptibly as he rehearses the tucks and somersaults in his mind's eye.

Slowly he moves to the platform's edge, his chest moving rhythmically as his breathing intensifies, his brown eyes glazed with concentration. For a moment he is stationary, like a statue in the heavens. Then he rocks back, his face working, his youthful muscles flexing.

In less than two seconds he will hit the water at 35mph, his hands thrust forward to break the surface (what aficionados call a “rip landing”), creating a fluid tunnel to receive his head and body. And those watching will applaud spontaneously. They always do.

It is unnecessary to trot out a list of superlatives to convey Daley's precocity, for the facts speak eloquently enough. He won gold in both the individual and synchronised 10-metre platform at the 2008 British Championships. He took gold at the European Championships in Eindhoven in March - at the age of 13 years and ten months - with two of his final three dives eliciting perfect 10s from the judges. And in August he will arrive at the Olympic Games in Beijing as Britain's youngest competitor in any sport, with an outside chance of a podium finish. How does he do it? Even Rob, his father, is confounded by the brilliance of Britain's latest sporting prodigy, his West Country accent fumbling for words that might solve the mystery.

“Neither me nor my wife are any good at sport so it's amazing how he has done so well,” he said. “I often wonder what on earth Tom has done or what I have done to deserve all this success. Sometimes I have to pinch myself. It is like winning the lottery, except there isn't a huge amount of money in diving.”

The Boy Wonder, who turned 14 last month, is less perplexed by the scale and staggering speed of his achievements. “I just love what I am doing,” he said. “My success is based on hard training and dedication: I do three hours of diving every day during school term and six hours during the holidays. But I don't think my life is particularly unusual. People at school treat me like anyone else. I guess I get to go abroad more than most people, but other than that my life is pretty ordinary, really.”

But his life is anything but ordinary. His preparation for the 2012 Games is the subject of a BBC fly-on-the-wall documentary. In April he presented a Bafta at the London Palladium. On Thursday he posed for photographs at the launch of the British Olympic Association's 2008 kit. On the train home he signed autographs and posed for more pictures. Which all raises an urgent question: stardom may be unavoidable for someone with Daley's talent, but is it healthy?

The irony of childhood achievement is that it inspires fascination - think of the six-year-old Mozart, lifted on to a pedestal to perform before Austria's Archduchess Maria Theresa - but it also brings fearful emotional and psychological pressure. How often have we seen a teenager blaze a trail only to plunge from view, their lives played out in the shadow of their former glory? How often have we seen the innocent visage of youth give way to a senescent, resentful scowl?

Whether Daley can avoid the curse of the wunderkind will hinge on the strength of his character and, crucially, the attitude of his family. “A lot of kids in sport suffer from burnout and the like because they are put under too much pressure from their parents, but there has never been anything like that from us,” Daley's father, who has given up work to support Tom's career, said.

“He was the one who decided he wanted to dive [at the age of 8, after looking up at the boards at the local pool] and I was just the person who took him along. I have never had to push him.

“We have two other sons and we have to make sure they don't feel left out with all the attention Tom is getting. It is a bit like having a big jigsaw to get in place. It takes some planning but it needs to be done right to make sure that Tom is not distracted when he is competing.”

Professor Joan Freeman, a psychologist who specialises in working with gifted children, says that this is precisely the kind of family attitude that will protect Daley. “The dangers of childhood celebrity are considerable, but the long-term impact depends on the personalities involved,” she said.

“A key is the stability and integrity of family relationships. The child must not be turned into a kind of mascot for the family but should be valued independently of sporting success. The feeling that it is success alone that is valued can add intolerable pressure and distort proper relationships.”

Daley, who recently signed a significant sponsorship deal with Sodexo, a provider of school meals, does, indeed, seem to be handling the many pressures that are building on his young shoulders. “I sense the demands on me because a lot of people want me to succeed,” he said. “But I think I can cope with it.

“I have already overcome some tough times in my career [he had a crisis of confidence in 2006 after a couple of mistimed dives]. I am not going to Beijing expecting to win, but just to have a great experience. I mean, how many people of my age get a chance to compete in the Olympic Games?”