Easy to grasp! Quan Hongchan and Chen Yuxi won the gold and silver medals! I heard that diving can also affect eyesight?

Review expert: Peng Guoqiu, deputy chief physician of the Fourth Medical Center of the General Hospital of the Chinese People's Liberation Army

On the evening of August 6th, Beijing time, the women's single 10-meter platform final of the Paris Olympic diving event kicked off. Chinese athlete Quan Hongchan won the gold medal and once again performed the "disappearing splash technique."

At this point, China's diving "Dream Team" has become the diving team with the most gold medals!

A true dream team! The Chinese diving team topped the diving Olympic gold medal list Source: CCTV News

While we were amazed at Quan Hongchan and Chen Yuxi's "water splash disappearing technique" that brought glory to our country, we also discovered that they had their eyes open at the moment of entering the water, which would have a great impact on the vision of divers. The vision of "Diving Queen" Guo Jingjing was also greatly affected.

Why open your eyes when entering the water?

In the scoring criteria for diving, execution quality is an important indicator, which includes the posture, height, distance, angle of entry into the water, and splash control of the athlete in the air. However, diving is a free-fall sport with a fast pace, and the time from take-off to entry into the water is measured in seconds. In order to find the best entry point in this short time, athletes often choose to enter the water with their eyes open .

Quan Hongchan, Chen Yuxi Source: CCTV16

However, for ordinary people, it is difficult to open their eyes in the water, let alone enter the water with eyes open? But the fact is that if a diver enters the water with eyes closed, he cannot observe the angle of entry and control his body movements, which is equivalent to "blind jump". Entering the water with eyes open can better judge the angle of entry and find the right landing point, but it is very harmful to the eyes.

Why does diving affect your eyesight?

How fast does one jump from a 10-meter high platform when approaching the water? About 60 kilometers per hour. Such a high speed can have a huge impact on the already fragile eyes. And the athletes dive with their eyes open!

Former diving Olympic champion Wang Hao once said: "The impact of the water hitting the eyes is very large, just like 20 bottles of mineral water hitting the eyes directly."

In medicine, there is even a special term for this, diving retinopathy . When an athlete enters the water, the eyeball is deformed due to the huge impact of the water, and the vitreous base tissue lacks elasticity and cannot extend synchronously with the eyeball wall, which can easily cause retinal tears or detachment.

Retinal disease is known as an occupational disease for divers because every link involves impact.

All technical training in diving is done with the head down and the feet up. When a person is standing upright, the eyes are about 30 cm higher than the heart, and when standing upside down, the eyes are lower than the heart, which will increase the venous pressure at the fundus and its tissue pressure. When practicing controlled handstands, handstand crawls, and pulling the head into the water with a suspended protective belt, in a long-term handstand, coupled with holding the breath, exerting force, and training strength, the chest pressure will increase greatly, which will make the venous pressure at the fundus even higher. This will cause damage to the retina for a long time, permeability changes and spasms, edema or cystic degeneration of the retinal tissue, and further development may cause holes and lead to retinal detachment.

You may wonder, why not wear swimming goggles?

The reason why athletes open their eyes when entering the water is to observe the angle of entry into the water. Wearing goggles may affect the entry into the water. There will also be a huge impact force when entering the water. Goggles may scratch the athlete's eyes and face, and may also cause damage to the athlete's eyes.

Can you be knocked unconscious while diving?

First of all, we need to make it clear that diving has never been a simple recreational activity . It has very high requirements on cardiopulmonary function, muscle strength, and coordination and balance ability. If you are not careful, it will cause certain sports injuries to the diver. The huge impact force when entering the water may even shatter the internal organs and cause fractures.

0 1The impact of height

The height of high diving is relatively high, and there is a gravitational acceleration when falling. The greater the speed when reaching the water surface, the greater the force of impact with the water surface. When falling into the pool, the human body has to withstand a huge impact force.

02 Difficulty of diving movements

High diving requires great skill and accuracy. If you don't maintain the correct posture when diving or don't adjust the angle properly when entering the water, you may suffer fractures or other injuries.

0 3 The influence of water flow

During diving, if the entry angle is not correctly controlled, the water flow may directly hit the head or other parts of the body, causing injury.

Why take a bath after getting ashore?

Why do divers take a shower first and then go to the rest area to rest after a competition? There are mainly the following reasons:

Regulating body temperature

The water temperature of the indoor diving pool must be kept above 26 degrees Celsius, while the room temperature of the competition venue is generally around 22 degrees Celsius. Athletes will feel cool after getting out of the water, and showering is to restore the athletes' body temperature.

Relax your muscles

Diving is a sport that requires high muscle coordination and strength. Flushing immediately after getting out of the water can help relax muscles, reduce muscle tension and fatigue, and help athletes recover.

Cleansing the body

The water in a swimming pool usually contains disinfectants, such as chlorine, which may cause some irritation to the skin. Showering after getting out of the water can wash away the chlorine on your body and reduce discomfort to the skin.

Psychological Adjustment

Diving is a sport that requires a high level of mental stability. The process of flushing after getting out of the water gives athletes a chance to calm down, adjust their mentality, and prepare mentally for the next dive.

Behind every medal is a heavy load of sweat, and every athlete has made efforts and sacrifices that are unimaginable to ordinary people. Let us cheer for the Olympic athletes together!