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Fear Factor
Fifteen of the worlds best and bravest high divers visit Australia to battle it out for a place in the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series
Words: Robert Tighe
High hopes: After a series of impressive dives during both qualifying days, Jorge Ferzuli of Mexico took the fourth available Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series slot and proved that he has what it takes to compete with the best
PHOTOGRAPHY: DeAn SeWell, DeAn TReml/ReD bull cOnTenT POOl

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ome of the divers listen to music while they wait their turn; others sit in quiet contemplation. Some warm up; others try to calm down. Some kiss their lucky charm; others bless themselves. All of them, when they stand on the edge of the platform are alone and afraid. Everyone is scared, says Blake Aldridge. Ask anyone here and if they tell you theyre not scared, theyre trying to be a bigger man than they are. Aldridge is one of 15 divers from nine countries who have gathered near Sydney, Australia, for the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series qualifier. The top four will get a place in the 2012 season, joining the top seven divers from last year. The series get under way on June 22 in France, followed by stops in Norway, Portugal, Ireland, the USA and Wales before the finale in Oman in September. Qualifying for the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series is by no means easy. If the divers have an off day in one of the events during the series, they can shake it off and look forward to the next one. In the Australia qualifier the divers are judged on eight dives over two days of competition. One bad dive could end their chances of qualifying. The standard is that high. Five divers who finished outside the top seven last year are in Australia hoping to reclaim their place among the worlds elite. Of the 10 other divers, two in particular, Aldridge and David Colturi are tipped as ones to watch. Aldridge is a 29-year-old former British Olympian and the first diver
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From left: Hassan Mouti (France), Anatoliy Shabotenko (Ukraine) and Gennadiy Kutsenko (Ukraine) with diving legend and Red Bull Cliff Diving consultant Joey Zuber

to compete in the Olympics and the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series. Colturi only took up the sport last year after an impressive collegiate diving career in the US. The 23-year-old won national titles but was just below Olympic standard. I could have trained really hard for a long time and I might have got to the Olympics, but this was a better option for me, says Colturi, an all-American type who is studying to be a doctor. Youre representing yourself, there are no coaches and everyone is here to have fun. Its like a brotherhood.

PHOTOGRAPHY: DEAN SEWEll

Youre representing yourself and there are no coaches. Its like a brotherhood

Climbing the ladder to the 8m warm-up diving platform

That sense of brotherhood is evident on the first day of competition. Its a wet, miserable, Thursday afternoon not the beach and barbecue weather you might expect in Australia and the steep forest trail up to the cliff is getting muddier by the minute. The divers are completing their last-minute preparations inside a tent beside the specially constructed 27.5m-high platform jutting out over the Hawkesbury River. Just before the competition commences, all 15 divers come together and exchange high fives, hugs and words of encouragement:
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Have a good day, man. Good luck. Take Care. Be safe. The foul weather makes it more difficult and dangerous than usual. Wet hands and feet make it difficult to hold on to a tuck. Cold muscles tense up leading to more impact injuries. Igor Semashko ruptures his groin on the first dive and Andrey Rublev injures his knee after hitting the platform. Both Russians are forced to withdraw from the competition. Aldridge leads after the first day, followed by Colturi, Steven loBue (USA) and Todor Spasov (Bulgaria). It means nothing, says Aldridge. There are four more dives to go. Weve had some casualties today and theres nothing to say there wont be more but its for me to lose now. Friday is a rest day and the rain is relentless. Plans for a sightseeing trip to the Blue Mountains are abandoned.

These guys are hitting the water at more than 90kph

Instead the divers mooch around the clubhouse of the Riverside Oaks Golf Resort, the event headquarters, watching music videos and diving clips on YouTube. The twists, somersaults and free falls look spectacular on a laptop; it looks terrifying when youre just a few metres away from the platform. The maximum height in Olympic diving is 10m; the standard height here is 27m. These guys are launching themselves off the equivalent of a nine-storey building with a three-second free fall before hitting the water at more than 90kph. When you hit the water, its like BAM! says US diver Kent De Mond. Your feet are sore; your back hurts; you get whiplash in your neck. Its just a general soreness. It never gets easier, says Aldridge. When you walk on to the platform, youre nervous because youve got 27.5m between you and the water and you know what the impact is like. Your mind goes over every scenario. What if I come out of the dive and see the sky and not the water? What if I come out of a twist and cartwheel and get lost? Thats what happened to Hassan Mouti in Greece last year. He was
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Above: Anatoliy Shabotenko This picture: A safety diver watches over Kyle Mitrione Below (from left): Blake Aldridge, David Colturi, Steven LoBue and Joey Zuber

PHOTOGRAPHY: DeAn SeWell (2), DeAn TReml/ReD bull cOnTenT POOl (2)

Its a long way down in the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series the qualifying event saw competitors dive from a 27.5m-high platform into the Hawkesbury River

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practising a new dive, a front quint somersault with half twist-tuck, when he suddenly became totally disoriented. I had a blackout, says the 31-yearold Frenchman. I didnt know where I was, I didnt know how many metres I was from the water. I didnt know how many somersaults I had done. You know you are going to hit the water hard but you dont know when. Mouti did almost six somersaults before he hit the water,
Top: Kris Kolanus (Poland) and Jonathan Paredes (Mexico) had to pull out of qualifying due to injuries Middle (from left): David Colturi, Steven LoBue, Australian Olympic diving champion and event commentator, Matthew Mitcham and Blake Aldridge Bottom: the divers toast the winner David Colturi

landing on his side. Was he unconscious? No but it would have been better if I was, he says. I was in a lot of pain. I couldnt even breathe properly. Mouti escaped with severe bruising to his lungs, but mentally he was a wreck. He didnt dive for two months after the accident and when he climbed the steps to the diving platform at his local pool, it was only 3m high. Even from that height he struggled, landing

on his back or his stomach. It was like learning to dive from scratch. The qualifier is his first competition back and although hes in ninth place after the first day and out of contention for one of the four qualifying spots, hes just relieved to be jumping again. When I did my first practice dive here I was thinking again about the accident, says Mouti, but as soon as I took off it was like I never stopped. It was like, Why was I afraid? All the divers have their own horror stories. Aldridges worst crash came after diving off a 10m platform at a training camp in 2003. He landed face first in the water. He tore his retinas and was blind for five minutes. last year in Italy, in his second Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series event as a wildcard, he did an almost perfect back double somersault with full twist. Almost perfect. My torso was leaning to the right, explains Aldridge, and I took a shot to the ribs and was left coughing up blood for almost an hour. In comparison, the worst injury David Colturi has suffered is a little bruising to his feet. I know. Its pathetic, he laughs. The reason why hes been left relatively unscathed could be down to the fact hes only competed in one Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series event as a wildcard, or it could be because his technique is so good. Those in the know rave about his confident body language on the platform, his perfect form in the air and his humble aw shucks attitude. Ive only chucked a handful of dives off the high platform so I still dont know if its beginners luck or not, he says. Colturis first jump from 27.5m was in August last year in Boston. He emailed the organisers asking if he could do some practice dives off the platform. Previous to that he had done a few dives off from 20m at the Indiana Beach Amusement Resort. Colturi impressed so much in Boston he was offered a plane ticket to Australia for the qualifier. I was hooked from the first dive, says Colturi. Your heart is racing when youre on the platform but as soon as you dive you let everything else go. When you jump you get this calm feeling as you fly through the air, says Aldridge. Suddenly you spot the water and all your fears come back to you as you brace yourself for impact. When you hit the water it sends shockwaves through your body. Your feet sting but you know youre all right. You pop up at the surface and theres a voice in your head that says, lets do that again. After a week of rain the sun is shining for the second and final day of competition

Jorge Ferzuli keeps warm during a practice session while Kris Kolanus goes through his usual pre-dive preparations

PHOTOGRAPHY: DEAN SEWEll(3), DEAN TREMl/RED BUll CONTENT POOl

When you jump you get this calm feeling as you fly through the air. Then your feet sting, but you know youre all right

on Saturday afternoon. The river, however, looks like something out of Charlie And The Chocolate Factory and is littered with grass and weeds and bits of trees. Watch out for the debris, is the advice for the divers in the precompetition briefing at the top of the cliff. On the water hundreds of spectators in houseboats, cabin-cruisers, kayaks, inflatable dinghies and Jet Skis cheer every time one of the divers steps up to the edge of the platform. While Jorge Ferzuli is preparing for his first dive, someone on a boat shouts, Do a belly flop. The Mexican isnt rattled. He starts the day in seventh, but after the first three dives hes in contention for the fourth qualifying spot. A quad somersault with half-twist earns him nine out of 10 from four of the five judges and a place in the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series. Im super happy, says Ferzuli, a barrel-chested 31-year-old with a big smile. I tried to have a cold mind and be sure about my technique. I tried to make everything perfect. Both Aldridge and Colturi get perfect 10s from the judges for their third dives

but Colturi seals the win on his last dive, beating a disappointed Aldridge. Im gutted that Ive come second, says Aldridge. Dont get me wrong, Im absolutely ecstatic to make the tour. Thats what I came here to do and the way me and David and the others dived here, the other divers should watch out. Colturis win is made extra special by the fact that one of his diving buddies from Purdue University in Indiana, Steven loBue, secures the third qualifying spot. Aldridge is also looking forward to catching up with an old mate when the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series starts on June 22. He went to school with the two-time champ, Gary Hunt. It promises to be a bittersweet reunion, however. Hunt and Aldridge lost one of their closest friends, Gavin Brown, in a hit and run accident in 2007. As special as it will be to be on the tour with Gary, Gavin will always be missing, says Aldridge. But if me and Gary can rule the world on our own, we know Gavin will be watching, and thats a beautiful thing.
First stop Corsica. www.redbullcliffdiving.com; www.redbull.com/cliffdivingsydney

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