Gymnastics Coaching.com

A very interesting article recommended by Tom Trapp. Like Artistic Gymnastics, some feel Diving has got too acrobatic. Difficulty weighted too much relative to execution.

There are two types of rippers, they discovered. There are those with the right body type — long, tapering legs and feet and highly flexible shoulders — who hold a streamlined, needlelike position with toes pointed to allow a gradual closure of the water. Then there are those who know how to jackknife themselves underwater to pull the waves down.

“We called that a seething rip,” Abraham says. “There’s no splash, but it looks like the water is boiling. Like there’s a wrestling match going on under there. . . . What’s happening is the divers are going in and curling up. Once their shoulders are in the water, they’re piking, so their trunk rolls, their back is down, and their back creates a lot of suction.” …

Hitting the water without a splash gets big cheers, but has Olympic diving gotten too dry?