Why do Olympic divers shower immediately after a dive?

[Seb]

This question has bugged me every year that I've watched the Summer games. I thought I'd share what I found for anyone else who gets useless questions stuck in their head:

From: The mystery of the showering divers - Fourth-Place Medal - Olympics - Yahoo! Sports

Divers shower in between each dive to keep their muscles warm after getting out of the pool. The temperature of the pool water and the air are usually different (the pool is usually around 80 degrees, with the air temperature between 68 and 72 degrees). This difference can cause muscle tightness. To combat this, divers warm up in either the showers or a hot tub.

I know the surface temperature of skin is usually around 87 degrees, so that answer makes sense, except that the girl divers sure seem to focus on rinsing their hair an awful lot.

 

[TimV]

Interesting. I figured it was to keep the chlorine from damaging their hair and irritating their eyes, but the warmth makes sense.

 

[govols]

Man, I was way off, I thought it was b/c yah never know when someone pees in the pool.

 

[Seb]

I thought the same thing and my wife thought it was to get the chlorine out of their hair.

 

[N. Eshelman]

I thought it was too keep the steroids off their skin that leaked out of their pours. Guess I was wrong too.

 

[Mushroom]

I'm not surprised that they do. After all, they let frenchmen swim in that pool!

<Ducking and running before Andrew sees this>

 

[VirginiaHuguenot]

I'm not surprised that they do. After all, they let frenchmen swim in that pool!

<Ducking and running before Andrew sees this>

Grrr!

 

[matt01]

I thought it was too keep the steroids off their skin that leaked out of their pours. Guess I was wrong too.

I would have guessed that the pool, like any public pool, was dirty. It seems we were all wrong.

 

[ColdSilverMoon]

I thought it was too keep the steroids off their skin that leaked out of their pours. Guess I was wrong too.

That's only the Chinese divers....

 

[Presbyterian Deacon]

Man, I was way off, I thought it was b/c yah never know when someone pees in the pool.