The Dods: 5 Things To Know About The Death Dive
Extreme sport from Norway, dods involves making increasingly unexpected and spectacular dives. Here are 5 things to know about this discipline that should not be attempted in your pool.
1- This extreme sport originates from Norway.
Unless you are passionate about extreme sports, you are unlikely to know the dods. This discipline, also called death diving or death stunt, comes from Norway: proof that modern-day Vikings are not faint-hearted!
Although this translation from Norwegian is approximate, the name “death diving” accurately conveys the sensational aspect of this sport. This discipline, increasingly popular among both young and older adrenaline junkies, involves jumping from a diving board at least 10 meters high and diving in a completely unorthodox manner.
This dangerous game is said to have been invented by a group of friends at a neighborhood pool in Oslo in the 1960s or 1970s. The exact creator is unknown, but it is said that this way of diving was imagined to impress girls...
2- It consists of making seemingly failed dives.
To truly understand dods, you must forget the diving events you may have seen during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games!
Norwegian death diving involves jumping off a very high diving board, giving the impression that the dive is botched and will end in a painful belly flop, then curling up "like a shrimp" (feet and fists forward) at the last moment, just before hitting the water.
Divers enjoy making spectators believe they are going to land flat, for example by extending their arms and legs in an X shape, before curling up at the last moment like a shrimp to reduce the impact with the water.
3- It has its own world championships.
Even though døds remains an amateur sport, it has its own federation in Norway and its own world championships since 2008.
For about fifteen years, a world cup has been organized every summer at Frognerbadet, the Oslo neighborhood where this extreme sport was born. For the past two years, this championship has also been open to women, who compete in their own category.
Among the divers in contention, the majority are Norwegians and Swedes. But this sport is beginning to timidly cross the borders of Scandinavian countries to also attract some Spaniards, French, or Swiss...
In this competition, two events follow one another:
• the classic døds where competitors jump with their arms crossed before curling into a ball or shrimp position at the last moment.
• the freestyle where competitors perform acrobatic figures in the air, such as spectacular somersaults and pirouettes or even slow-motion effects giving the impression that the diver is floating in the air in slow motion...
At the poolside, a jury awards scores, taking into account style, timing, originality of the figures, and the importance of the splashes. Indeed, right after impact, the divers reopen their bodies to create the biggest splash possible.
4- The 2024 world record is co-held by a Swiss and a Frenchman.
In 2024, the world record for dods is held by two European divers: Lucien Charlon, a 22-year-old Swiss student, and Côme Girardot, a 21-year-old French athlete.
These two enthusiasts broke the world height record by performing a death dive from 36.6 meters!
5- It is a sport that requires a lot of preparation.
When reaching the water's surface at a speed of 70 km/hour, no mistakes are allowed. That’s why, even though this sport doesn’t require much equipment, it is not accessible to everyone.
It’s not enough to be a thrill-seeker to jump into the void from the first bridge you find. To defy gravity and master these two elements, air and water, a lot of training is required.
As you can understand, the death dive lives up to its name! It is an extreme and dangerous sport that cannot be taken lightly, at the risk of suffering serious injuries or even dying on the spot.
