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The Paris 2024 Olympic diving competition is under way, and each dive is followed by an unusual routine.
After each dive, the competitors exit the water and immediately take a shower, leaving many asking questions about the purpose of this, but the reality is the diver’s muscles.
Experts have said that the dive into the pool, and then getting out into the cold arena does not aid the muscles, and the hot shower is taken to keep muscles loose and reduce the chance of strains.
Between each dive, those in the competition are often seen in a jacuzzi as they await their next one.
Diving is one of the most eye-catching events of the Olympics, and especially the swimming competition.
There are eight Olympic diving events, the 3m springboard, individual, synchronised, men and women and the 10 m platform.
The dives are scored by a panel of judges who are looking at how aesthetically pleasing the movements are, the difficulty of the dive, and how well they enter the water. While synchronised divers are also marked on how well the two competitors’ movements are matched.
Diving was first introduced in the 1904 Games in St Louis and has been at every one since then, while the women’s competition was first introduced in 2012. But it was not until the Sydney Olympics in 2000 that synchronised diving made its Games debut.
Britain’s best-known diver is Tom Daley, a four-time world champion and Olympic gold medallist who is preparing for his fifth Olympics.
Daley made his Olympic debut back in 2008 at the age of just 14 and has won individual bronze in both 2012 and Tokyo 2020, while his only gold came in the last Olympics in the 10m synchronised diving competition.
