I’m sure you’ve seen that hot tub the divers retreat to the minute they’ve completed their dives.  For keeping them warm between dives as well as using the jets to relax tense muscles, the hot tub at the Olympics is a must have for competitors in the diving competitions.

The hot tub is seen at the Aquatics Centre in the Olympic Park during the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Monday, July 30, 2012. Olympic divers have one thing in common with the rest of us, it seems. After a dip in the pool, they enjoy a soak in an hot tub. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

CP  |  By Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press

From Huffington Post

LONDON – Olympic divers have one thing in common with the rest of us, it seems. After a dip in the pool, they enjoy a soak in a hot tub.

At the London Aquatics Center, the hot tub gets a visit from a hard body after every dive. But Mitch Geller, chief technical officer of Diving Canada, says it’s more about preserving the body than hedonism.

Temperature control is important between dives, says Geller.  So is drying off.

“No matter how hot it is, water evaporating is going to cool you down,” he explained. “They need to stay warm. And so they just jump into the hot tub. It’s just a quick relaxation but it also gets warm water on you. And once you dry that off, then you basically stay warm between dives.”

The divers use a small chamois cloth to dry off, which is just as important as staying warm.

That’s because as divers rotate in the air, centrifugal force pulls their legs away from their bodies. So they need to use their arms to reach in and pull them back.

“If you’re wet, you run a pretty good risk of your legs slipping away,” Geller said. “And then all hell breaks loose.”

The hot tub also serves as “a bit of a kiss-and-cry area,” he added. Divers may be in the tub when their scores flash up on the big video screen.

Geller says divers forgo the hot tub “quite often” in practice and just do one dive after another.  But during competition, “It’s a real good break between dives.”

So, it’s the hot tub that keeps Olympic divers in peak condition for their sport!  We’ve know this for years.

If you’re a participant in any sport, using a hot tub will improve your performance, guaranteed!

Relax for life™

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