Speaker 1: Imagine this. You're standing on a tiny diving board twenty
Speaker 1: six meters high that's about the size of an eight
Speaker 1: story building. Behind you, a sheer cliff in front of you,
Speaker 1: thousands of people waiting expectantly, and far far below you
Speaker 1: the wild ocean, churning swells, whitewater and sharp rocks. You're
Speaker 1: practically naked, wearing only speedos, and there's no turning back.
Speaker 1: You're gonna have to jump. Welcome to the world of
Speaker 1: cliff diving. Hi, I'm Tony Armstrong. Welcome to the pool room,
Speaker 1: where we celebrate the winners, losers, and the weird stuff between.
Speaker 1: Although diving from incredible heights might sound like an actual
Speaker 1: nightmare for most people, cliff divers travel the world looking
Speaker 1: for these kinds of opportunities. These athletes are extraordinary people.
Speaker 1: The risks they take are much higher than the average
Speaker 1: sports person, and the payoff is and are celebrated. They're
Speaker 1: unlikely to make any money, and although the sport is growing,
Speaker 1: most of them probably won't become renowned in the way
Speaker 1: that say a famous footballer is. Those who do make
Speaker 1: it to the pinnacle have gone through years of mental
Speaker 1: and physical training. They're dedicated determined and possibly a little crazy.
Speaker 1: So when dozens of the world's best cliff divers unanimously
Speaker 1: agree that someone is the greatest cliff diver of all time,
Speaker 1: it's worth paying attention and to Gary Hunt, the man
Speaker 1: The Guardian labeled the Lenal Messi of cliff diving. Gary
Speaker 1: is the best of the best, the most successful male
Speaker 1: in the history of the sport. Over the length of
Speaker 1: his career, he's undertaken a number of impressive dives, but
Speaker 1: the one I want to focus on happened early in
Speaker 1: his career. In May of two thousand and nine, when
Speaker 1: Gary was just twenty four years old. It was part
Speaker 1: of the first ever cliff Diving World Series. The sport
Speaker 1: was just becoming widely recognized and people from around the
Speaker 1: globe had gathered in Antalia, Turkey to watch and compete,
Speaker 1: including Gary, and he was about to make a huge
Speaker 1: impression on everyone there. In diving, there's a panel of
Speaker 1: five judges. In the lead up to every dive, the
Speaker 1: divers take the time to explain to these judges the
Speaker 1: details of what they're planning to attempt. When it was
Speaker 1: his turn, Gary described every moment of his dive. It
Speaker 1: would involve jumping backward off the board into three summersaults
Speaker 1: with four twists. This move had a difficulty rating of
Speaker 1: six point two, which was completely off the charts. It
Speaker 1: was declared to be the most difficult dive ever performed
Speaker 1: in any form of competitive diving. It was also a
Speaker 1: dive that no one had ever attempted, not even Gary himself.
Speaker 1: We'll come back to Gary in a moment, but first,
Speaker 1: there's a few things you need to know about cliff
Speaker 1: diving as a sport. Firstly, it differs from regular diving
Speaker 1: in many ways, the most obvious being the heights are
Speaker 1: much greater. A regular diving board is ten meters. In
Speaker 1: cliff diving, it's twenty six meters high. By the time
Speaker 1: the divers reached the water, they're traveling at an astounding
Speaker 1: eighty five to one hundred kilometers per hour. That means
Speaker 1: that every high dive has to end feat first, because
Speaker 1: if someone were to hit the water ahead first, as
Speaker 1: sometimes happened when a diver miscalculates the fall, at best,
Speaker 1: they might face concussion, whiplash and bruising. At worst, they
Speaker 1: could suffer severe spinal injuries or even die. In Olympic diving,
Speaker 1: there are strict specifications for what's known as an Olympic
Speaker 1: sized pool, which includes details such as temperature, length, width,
Speaker 1: and depth. But in the wild West of cliff diving,
Speaker 1: their specifications and conditions are a little less tightly regulated.
Speaker 1: Athletes are jumping off literal cliffs into whatever body of
Speaker 1: water is below, sometimes a deep river or raging ocean,
Speaker 1: other times a calm bay. When preparing for a dive,
Speaker 1: a lot of factors need to be considered, like wind
Speaker 1: direction and the size of ocean swells, details that divers
Speaker 1: in a pool never have to think about. To make
Speaker 1: things even more challenging, there are just three training centres
Speaker 1: world wide with diving boards high enough to train on.
Speaker 1: To get around this limitation, they use a combination of
Speaker 1: swimming pools, specialist gymnast equipment, and trampolines to practice each
Speaker 1: aspect of their dive. Often the day of the competition
Speaker 1: is the first time they get to put all the
Speaker 1: components of their dive together. This is exactly what Gary
Speaker 1: Hunt was facing with his difficult dive in two thousand
Speaker 1: and nine. But even though Gary hadn't practiced it before,
Speaker 1: it doesn't mean he wasn't prepared. In some ways, Gary
Speaker 1: had been training for this moment all his life, since
Speaker 1: he was just a kid back in England. From the beginning,
Speaker 1: Gary's determination was the thing that set him apart from
Speaker 1: his peers. He wasn't the best diver, according to his coach,
Speaker 1: but he loved the sport and it quickly became apparent
Speaker 1: to everyone who knew him that he would dedicate his
Speaker 1: life to it. He was traveling around the country and
Speaker 1: the world, competing in events with his eye on the
Speaker 1: prize representing Great Britain in the Olympic Games, but the
Speaker 1: fact that there were other more talented divers soon began
Speaker 1: to take its toll on his Olympic aspirations. So in
Speaker 1: an unexpected twist, Gary decided to become a pirate. Nah,
Speaker 1: just kidding. He didn't become a real pirate, but he
Speaker 1: did the next best thing. He got a summer job
Speaker 1: wearing a pirate costume at an amusement park. Alongside other
Speaker 1: pirity type activities. He had to jump eighteen meters into
Speaker 1: a pool below. Until this moment, Gary had only jumped
Speaker 1: from ten meters high. Initially terrified, Gary soon came to
Speaker 1: love it. He spent the summer perfecting crazier and more
Speaker 1: complicated dives, which of course excited the crowds. After the
Speaker 1: summer ended, he sought out even greater heights, pushing himself
Speaker 1: to the limit and meeting like minded divers who shared
Speaker 1: his aspirations. By the time Gary began competing again, he'd
Speaker 1: found himself in a completely new sport. Gary had stumbled
Speaker 1: into the world of cliff diving, and he was about
Speaker 1: to take it by storm. So let's go back to
Speaker 1: that day in two thousand and nine, the Cliff Diving
Speaker 1: World Series in Turkey. Gary stands alone on the edge
Speaker 1: of a diving board, jutting far out from a cliff.
Speaker 1: You know that saying cool as a cucumber. Well, Gary
Speaker 1: is often referred to as the Cucumber on account of
Speaker 1: his complete lack of fear. Watching him perform this dive,
Speaker 1: it's easy to see why he seems completely calm. The
Speaker 1: crowd below him, on the other hand, looked like they're
Speaker 1: collectively holding their breath. Some people are covering their mouths
Speaker 1: in shock. Gary's fellow divers have their heads in their hands,
Speaker 1: unable to look away, but terrified of what might happen.
Speaker 1: According to interviews, in these moments of gathering himself before
Speaker 1: the fall. He's actually terrified, but he also said that
Speaker 1: fear is part of what makes him the best in
Speaker 1: the world because he knows how to use it to
Speaker 1: his advantage. There's concern and skepticism from some of his rivals,
Speaker 1: bitter comments about how he's trying to win solely on
Speaker 1: difficulty alone, which to their minds, isn't in the spirit
Speaker 1: of the sport. Gary tunes all of this out and
Speaker 1: focuses on the task at hand. He stands still with
Speaker 1: his back to the ocean, his chin tucked in slightly.
Speaker 1: He remains there for a second, gathering his concentration. If
Speaker 1: he's terrified inside, you wouldn't know it by the look
Speaker 1: on his face. Slowly, he swings his arms forwards backwards,
Speaker 1: and then suddenly he leaps into action, swinging both arms
Speaker 1: up above his head. He bends his knees and looks
Speaker 1: up at the sky before launching himself backwards off the board,
Speaker 1: headfirst towards the water below. Once in the air, Gary
Speaker 1: performs a dizzying number of twists and turns before straightening
Speaker 1: himself so he's perfectly righteously feet first when he hits
Speaker 1: the water, all with minimal splashing. It's a cliche, but
Speaker 1: it's true. The crowd went wild. He'd done it a
Speaker 1: dive so difficult. Nearly fifteen years later, it's still being
Speaker 1: talked about to this day. It's never been repeated. Gary's
Speaker 1: gone on to win ten diving World Series in the
Speaker 1: years since, with no apparent end in sight. He's the
Speaker 1: most successful male in the history of the sport. Who
Speaker 1: can say what the greatest cliff diver in the world
Speaker 1: will do next. Perhaps one day he'll do it again. Well,
Speaker 1: that's it for another episode of The Ballroom. You've been
Speaker 1: listening to an iHeart production. I hope you enjoyed it.
Speaker 1: I'm Tony Armstrong and I'll catch you in the next one.