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Olympic divers shower after each dive for a very particular reason

Home> Community> Weird

Updated 09:51 29 Jul 2024 GMT+1Published 10:31 27 Jul 2024 GMT+1

Olympic divers shower after each dive for a very particular reason

Divers will shower off after every dive at the 2024 Paris Olympics, but why?

Tom Earnshaw

Tom Earnshaw

Featured Image Credit: Tim Clayton / Corbis via Getty Images / Julian Finney / Getty Images

Topics: Olympics, Sport, Weird

Tom Earnshaw
Tom Earnshaw

Tom joined LADbible Group in 2024, currently working as SEO Lead across all brands including LADbible, UNILAD, SPORTbible, Tyla, UNILAD Tech, and GAMINGbible. He moved to the company from Reach plc where he enjoyed spells as a content editor and senior reporter for one of the country's most-read local news brands, LancsLive. When he's not in work, Tom spends his adult life as a suffering Manchester United supporter after a childhood filled with trebles and Premier League titles. You can't have it all forever, I suppose.

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@TREarnshaw

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Almost every day of the 2024 Paris Olympics will feature athletes diving into pools in their quest for gold.

With the Olympics itself kicking off on Friday, 26 July and lasting until Sunday, 11 August, millions will tune in across the two and a half weeks to watch more than 10,000 competitors face off across 32 sporting disciplines.

Some events only last for a few days, such as the brand new breakdancing category.

Others go on for the whole time, with diving firmly in that category.

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Starting on Saturday, 27 July, it wont end until Saturday, August 10, with 136 competitors taking to the boards across eight difference events.

Last time around Team GB's Tom Daley finally won the prize that he had been working towards his entire career after landing his first ever gold medal, with the now 30-year-old reduced to tears after finally getting his hands on the top accolade.

Why do divers shower off after each dive? (Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty Images)
Why do divers shower off after each dive? (Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty Images)

As millions in the UK watched on hoping and praying they would do it, after every dive Daley and his diving partner Matty Lee could be seen taking to the showers.

And it was something every competitor would do after every dive.

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A bit weird, really, when you consider they are already wet from plunging in to the pool in the first place.

But it's not weird when you know why. And there is reason behind the seemingly pointless task.

It all comes down to injury and rather, preventing it from happening mid competition.

Some even go in the hot tub. (Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
Some even go in the hot tub. (Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

Given that divers only perform a select number of times over what can be hours, there is the risk that they could pull up from the sudden jarring of their body in to some pretty incredible moves.

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By showering under hot water, what divers are doing is helping to keep their muscles relaxed and loose between every dive that takes place.

By doing this you're putting off the risk of getting cramp or even pulling a muscle the next time you're on the board.

And on top of this, you're also getting the chance to wash off the chlorine from the pool water which can be an irritant on your skin and in your eyes - and ultimately another distraction when competing.

You might also see some divers, especially those who have been recovering from injury, take a plunge in to a hot tub during the time after a dive.

The science here is pretty similar in that it'll keep those muscles right across the body nice and relaxed ahead of the next dive that they'll hope will bring them home a gold medal.

The most bizarre, discontinued Olympic sports

Painting

Back in the day, the Olympics dished out medals for art too, with events including painting and sculpture, as well as music, architecture and even literature.

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Making its debut all the way back at the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm and continuing until the 1948 London games, juries awarded competitors a total of 151 medals for artistic projects inspired by sport.

Tug of War

Bet you didn't think this playground classic was once part of the Olympics, did you?

Well, it turns out not only was the sport popular, but it stirred up a lot of drama too - with accusations of foul play flying around at the 1908 Olympics in London, with Team USA accusing Team GB of cheating due to their 'illegal' heavy footwear.

A mainstay for around five Olympic games from 1900 to 1920, Tug of War enthusiasts have even campaigned for organisers to reintroduce the retired sport back into the Games.

Hot Air Balloon Racing

Launching at the 1900 Olympics, hot air balloon drivers would compete in races scoring how far they could travel, altitude reached, ability to land within the correct coordinates and - to top it all off - who got the best photo from the balloon.

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The sport ended up being canned after a ban on motorised sports was brought in.

Live Pigeon Shooting

Also making its debut at the 1900 Olympics, the event was pretty self explanatory - a load of pigeons were released into the air as the competitor tried to shoot as many as possible. Grim.

The event only appeared at the Games once, and all in all, it's estimated that Olympic hopefuls killed around 300 pigeons.

Pistol Duelling

It doesn't take much guessing as to why this event was scrapped, but back in 1906, people clearly didn't bat an eyelid at competitors waving pistols around and shooting at each other.

It began with competitors shooting at dummies, but two years later organisers decided to shake things up and have them shoot at each other with wax bullets. Ouch.

1908 would be the last time the sport was included in the Olympics, so I'm guessing they quickly realised it was a bad idea - wax bullets or not.

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