How to Survive a Nine-Meter Kiddie-Pool High Dive

Of all the phenomenally difficult, profoundly asinine ways to get into the Guinness Book of World Records, this high-dive-into-shallow-pool feat has got to be one of the worst. Me? I’d rather walk backward for a while, à la Cliffy in Cheers, or try to master one of those balancing-balls tricks.

That said, someone did put a little bit of thought into this setup. First, there are a few sequences in the video that afford a wider view of the glorified kiddie pool and reveal that the base is a cushioned mat of some sort. This proves critical: If you watch closely, you can see the jumper bend his knee just before impact. His knee enters the water like a wedge—albeit a rounded one. If that was a real floor underneath the water, he wouldn’t have been capable of standing up and throwing that double-fisted pumper at the end.

Second, aside from that knee drop (undoubtedly a last-second effort by the diver’s brain to abort), he does have fairly perfect technique. University of Virginia physicist Lou Bloomfield says the belly-flop posture is the key to stopping short in that shallow pool. “For him to avoid injury, he has to use as much of his surface as possible to get rid of his downward momentum,” Bloomfield says. “A good belly slam helps.”

One thing science won’t be able to tell us, though, is why he’s wearing that god-awful unitard. —Gregory Mone

Comments

[Alan]

I was expecting to see a carefully timed dive technique, not just a belly flop. :) All I can say is that must have hurt...

[GTL]

"One thing science won’t be able to tell us, though, is why he’s wearing that god-awful unitard."

I would expect it protects not only his family jewels, but also provides some protection against the "sting" of a belly flop.

[SV]

Could he have done it from even higher? I mean, how long would it take someone to hit terminal velocity.

[Blah Boy]

just not impressed. It appears the pool was on top of some sort of mattress or other cushioning material.

[Mike Petrik]

I think it is called a unitard only the first time it is warn, when worn again it is more appropriately called a ....

[Jim Lee, Knoxville Tennessee REALTOR]

I'm a former skydiver.

It takes about 10 seconds to get to terminal velocity (124 MPH roughly) ; he wasn't even close.

That was one heck of a belly flop though.

[Miso Hawny]

Oh wow you can do belly flop into little pool with pillow under it. biiiiig deeeel try dive into puddle in the street with big pillow under it. silly american

[Bleepless]

You call that a dive? When I was a kid, I remember a Woody Woodpecker recording wherein a character took a high-dive into a damp washcloth.

[Donald Zeiter]

Put the pool in the middle of a concrete playground and that would be a great jump. Heck, put another 12 inches of water in the pool and it would still be tough to do on a solid surface. But putting a big pillow under the pool is like a dirt bike with a good suspension system - it takes a lot of risk out of the feat.

[Bruno]

Bruno will jump 100 meters into a cup of water!