Sometimes divers accidentally hit their head on the diving board after jumping off and spinning, causing horrible injuries. The end of the diving board or platform in the Olympics and wherever divers train should retract just a few inches after the diver jumps off.

This could be accomplished through an automatic sensor. Just a few inches could prevent a tragic injury to a diver.
-- phundug, Aug 21 2008

Definitely
-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Aug 21 2008


Part of the difficulty of some dives is clearing the board - the board shouldn't move unless necessary, and if it has to move, there should be a penalty of some kind for the diver (hopefully less horrible than a whack on the head with a plank).
-- FishFinger, Aug 21 2008


I've always thought that the end of that high, solid board should be composed of a type of rubber. I never watch the high dive competitions anymore after seeing one diver clipping his head on the way down. +
-- xenzag, Aug 21 2008


it might be more entertaining if rather than an actual dive, the board just retracts and the surprised diver then has to try and make it look like it's part of the routine.
-- neilp, Aug 21 2008


//(hopefully less horrible than a whack on the head with a plank)// [marked-for-tagline]
-- csea, Aug 21 2008


Another option is for the last half-meter of the diving board to be hinged; the hinge could then be released and that segment of the board instantly dangles vertically. It is reset before the next dive.
-- phundug, Aug 21 2008


We could also add a long-coated, pointy hat & eye-patch-wearing bearded gentleman, brandishing a cutlass and exclaiming, "Off the plank wi' ye!"
-- Jinbish, Aug 21 2008


+ Yay, even though I don't dive anymore, this is awesome!
-- xandram, Aug 21 2008


"Down, double back twister, bangs his head and in. Textbook. Lovely."

Extreme High Diving could involve a board which sometimes retracts and other times shoots forward, for added DANGER.
-- calum, Aug 22 2008


[calum]

I agree it could have added danger, for those diver who like to take risks. You probably should pad the end of the board though, so at worst they have a bad headache should it shoot out and they hit it...
-- wolstech, Aug 22 2008


This is a good idea. Also for practice. I never tried some crazy stuff at my local pool because of this fear. I probably could have been a good diver. :(

Next up, plexiglass shields in front of the batters, but not the plate.

Sigh.
-- leinypoo13, Aug 22 2008


"Sometimes divers accidentally hit their head on the diving board"

If you remove the possibility of this happening do you not also remove any incentive for people to watch the diving events? Without the danger it's just different people doing the same thing with varying degrees of splashback.
-- MikeOliver, Aug 25 2008


//hopefully less horrible than a whack on the head with a plank//
A whack on a plank with the head, (in this situation) shirley? Poor plank...
-- neutrinos_shadow, Aug 26 2008



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