Part 1: The 1983 World Record High Dive Challenge
The history of the world record high dive is an uneasy one. Over time, the arms race for the highest dive of all-time morphed into a vertebrae-smashing, quasi-suicidal, joint-dislocating disability-fest.
Let’s dive in!
These high-altitude heroes have achieved no fame, made little or no money and are hardly even mentioned in any record books.
The lucky ones get a Wikipedia page.
The unlucky ones… well… we will explore that in Part 2.
The ‘Rules’ of high diving
If there ever was a sport the needed a governing body, this is it. The rules couldn’t be less clear.
Dave Lindsay, a competition diver who claimed the world record in 1982 with this dive, describes the rules as follows:
- Jump from a higher point than anyone else
- At some point during the dive, the head must be the nearest part of your body to the water
- The dive is only counted if you are not mortally injured and able to climb out of the water on your own power.
There are no rules about what you can wear or how you jump. There are no rules about the surface or depth of the water.
Furthermore, the current record-holder, Laso Schaller, didn’t fulfill the second rule at all and no one seemed to mind.
These so-called “rules” are clearly flexible.
The arms race begins
The high dive frenzy began in 1983 with a made for TV special. On a single day in 1983, the world record high dive was set by five guys at ABC’s Wide World of Sports – World Record High Dive Challenge.
Five professional divers jumped from 52.4 m (172 ft) at Seaworld San Diego. Rick Charls, Rick Winters, Bruce Boccia, Mike Foley and Dana Kunze were all credited with the record.
Let’s take a look at two of the more impressive dives.
Rick Winters goes first
Rick is the first diver on the day. He is extremely professional, gives a solid interview and breaks the world record with relative ease.
After the dive, and for no apparent reason, Rick’s performance is scored by a panel of judges. He scores an average of 6.7.
Judge #2 gave him a 6 out of 10.
If you are in contact with any of these judges, especially Judge #2, please ask them to contact The Touchback immediately. They have a lot of explaining to do.
Dana Kunze: Show Stopper!
Dana Kunze goes fourth and ends the event with an absolute masterpiece of a dive.
He is well-prepared and executes a high degree-of-difficulty triple-somersault, finishing it with a perfect landing.
Wait… what’s this?
Only a 7.5 from Judge #2?!
And on that day, five men set the high dive world record at 52.4 meters (172 feet).
The record would hold for 32 years.
Before continuing to the vertebrae-splitting hospital-party that is Part 2 of this series, we have no alternative but to conclude Part 1 with some bad photoshops.
Enjoy.
Continue to Part 2 of The World Record High Dive – A Bone-Breaking History.
Skip the brutality and jump to Part 3 to see the current record holding dive.
