04/20/24
July 22, 2005
The Agony of the Face: American diver Chelsea Davis hit her head on the diving board during prelims for the World Swimming Championships Friday.
It would appear like she was showing good form, albeit about 8 inches too close to the end of the board. I wouldn't say that diving is one of the more dangerous sports out there. How many injuries can you recall? Me? Only a couple. The potential for harm always seems to be there, sure, but there seem to be far more injuries in lots of other sports. Mind you, there's been at least one death that I can recall on an inward turning dive. There was a diver in Edmonton who killed himself hitting his head on the 10m platform, 1983 World University Games, I think (of course I can find no account of this online).
posted by gspm at 09:20 PM on July 22, 2005
"American diver Chelsea Davis..." No relation.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 10:15 PM on July 22, 2005
This is why I could never dive competitively. This just freaks me out on some irrational level. I'll ski down a mountain, I'll jump off a bridge with rubber bands tied to my ankles, but an inward somersault on a diving board? No way.
posted by chicobangs at 02:16 PM on July 24, 2005
Me too, chico. I wince every time I watch platform diving.
posted by lil_brown_bat at 08:57 PM on July 24, 2005
Ever feel like the Internet is speaking directly to you? (chico & lbb - I have the same fears - what age are you guys? I think there may be some influence at work here to do with how old you were when you saw Greg Louganis do this)
posted by JJ at 06:08 AM on July 25, 2005
Just to be safe, let's keep it to cannonballs and can-openers. (and I've hurt myself doing those, too!)
posted by ajaffe at 07:55 AM on July 25, 2005
That Louganis link blew me away -- he let a doctor treat him for that bloody head injury without warning the guy he was HIV positive? That's criminal.
posted by rcade at 08:44 AM on July 25, 2005
The face that launched a diving board.
posted by yerfatma at 09:13 AM on July 25, 2005
Be fair though, rcade, the "embarrassment" of hitting his head was a mitigating factor. I thought that was a well-known fact about GL - handy diver, but a dodgy wanker for not letting on to anyone treating him.
posted by JJ at 09:58 AM on July 25, 2005
You'd never heard that rcade? (the non-disclosure part, not the HIV positive part, keeping in mind that not everybody has to remember ten year old Greg Louganis news). It certainly isn't a nice thing to have not done. But he did get clocked in the head so perhaps he was not thinking clearly ie "I wanted to warn Dr. Puffer but I was paralyzed."
posted by gspm at 03:59 PM on July 25, 2005
If the medical professional who treated Louganis had known of his HIV+ status, he/she would have done no more and no less than what he/she should have done anyway: that is, take BSI precautions. Bear in mind that medical professionals and first responders deal with bleeding people every day; some of them are HIV+ and most of those who are, probably don't know they are. Therefore, a sensible first responder doesn't evaluate anyone's race or gender or hairstyle, but simply says (in the words of a friend of mine), "If it's sticky and it's not mine, I don't want it on me."
posted by lil_brown_bat at 07:56 PM on July 25, 2005
"If it's sticky and it's not mine, I don't want it on me." Words to live by, lbb, especially in the back of the theater. It recalls the advice I received from my grandfather about riding horses: Never mess with anything that has a bigger penis than you.
posted by wfrazerjr at 08:43 AM on July 26, 2005
Was your grandfather talking in absolute terms or relative to body size?
posted by JJ at 09:50 AM on July 26, 2005
A fine question, and one that may rock the very foundations of fraze's life.
posted by yerfatma at 11:52 AM on July 26, 2005
... and stop his weekend trips to the aquarium to mess with the seahorses.
posted by JJ at 04:02 AM on July 27, 2005
Divning has got to be one of the more dangerous sports out there. I remember when Greg L. hit his head on the board during the Olumpics--Hope chelsea recovers nicely!