Daley, the reigning world champion in the 10m platform, was forced out of his favoured event following a triceps tear which resulted from a mis-timed dive earlier this month. 

This meant that the 3m platform event that the 16-year-old rarely competes in was Daley’s only chance at a medal at the inaugural Youth Olympics.

However, after impressing in the preliminary stages of the competition earlier in the day, Daley capitulated on his third dive of tonight’s final as he hit the water lying horizontally on his back.

Daley was well placed to land a medal before the disastrous event took place and despite a strong final two dives, he finished well down the 12-man field.

Daley’s big rival Qui Bo of China claimed the gold with a magnificent score of 607.15 as he led from start to finish.

Oleksandr Bondar of Ukraine picked up silver with 565.35 while Michael Hixon of the United States picked up the bronze with 554.65 points.

Daley admitted it was the third dive that had cost him dearly but added that the disappointment will spur him on to do well in future competitions.

Daley told insidethegames: "Like I said in the press conference, I’d be happy if I didn’t fall off the board but I did.

"I have to keep my chin up and go into the Junior World Championships next week making sure my tricep feels better and hopefully dive in the 10 metres.

"These kinds of competitions, when you don’t do well, make you determined to do well in the next one so I’m going to take that anger that I’ve got now and turn it into training and making sure that the next competition I do is going to be the best one.

"I’m going to watch the semis and the final [of the 10m platform event on August 24] and hopefully not feel too gutted that I’m not in it.

"Now is the time I wish my tricep wasn’t bad so I could come back and show people that I can dive well."

Daley dismissed fears that his tricep injury badly injured.

He said: "It’s feeling okay.

"It feels sore at some parts so I’ve had to compromise a bit with my diving technique.

"That’s not an excuse though; you have to compete and you have to compete like everyone else.

"The Commonwealth Games is the next big one so I’m looking forward to that and hopefully I’ll be fully fit and ready to do well there."

Daley is set to be one of Britain’s top medal prospects when he competes in front of a home crowd at the London 2012 Olympic Games and claimed that competing here was a great learning experience for him.

He said: "The experience has been great.

"The volunteers are great, it’s been organised really well, the Village is great and it’s been a really good experience.

"It’s been a learning one but it’s been a good experience."

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