From Circus to High Stage

Performers common among divers who take the plunge from extreme heights

- Melvyn Teoh

In the sport of high diving, where adrenaline junkies leap off eight-storey platforms while executing flips and spins, it is no surprise that some of its athletes hail from entertainment backgrounds.

Take British-born Frenchman Gary Hunt for example, a two-time former world champion in the sport, who played a Tarzan-like character at the Walygator Grand Est—an amusement park in France—for several years before becoming a high diver.

To relax before a competition, Hunt is often seen juggling balls to "slow his mind".

"You're not really thinking what you are doing. It can almost feel like your brain is not controlling your hands," he told The Guardian in 2023.

High diving is an extreme aquatics discipline in which athletes jump from platforms of 27 meters for men and 20 meters for women and execute acrobatic stunts during the dive. Athletes can reach speeds of up to 85kmh before hitting the water.