imagine you’re accelerating from zero to
85 kilometres an hour
in just three seconds in that time
you’ll travel the full length of a
basketball court about 30 meters now
we’re going to decelerate we’re gonna go
from 85 to zero but this time we only
have four meters to stop it sounds like
a pretty fast car and one with actually
very good braking system now to make
things more complicated let’s imagine
there is nothing to protect us no
seatbelt no airbag no steering wheel
nothing just your body and mind it has
to make all of that happen and what’s
gonna stop you is the water that’s the
sound of human body makes when he hits
the water at 85 kilometres an hour you
see what I do I’m a professional cliff
diver I jump from very high places into
water if you’ve seen the highest
platform in a diving pool that’s ten
meters high I jump about three times
that high and sometimes higher
[Laughter]
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
[Music]
[Music]
[Music]
thank you very much of course this is
not where it all started when I was a
little kid I remember my mom taking me
to the pool the first thing I wanted to
do put my bathing suit on run in the
water I just wanted to run and jump in I
had no idea what I was doing but that
feeling I love dad
I just loved feeling that I was flying
most times I probably landed flat on my
back or in my stomach but I loved it you
know I love that ah I mean I’m sure a
few of you have jumped in the water
enjoyed that feeling too and also felt
the pain of of Matt landing right but a
few years later while I was in high
school I joined a diving Club now I’m
starting to learn the right technique
what is it that you need to do to do a
proper dive I fell in love with the
sport I wanted to be able to pool every
afternoon and every free time that I had
I represented my country my city the
state
I want national and international
competitions but after a while diving in
a pool becomes repetitive you see
everything in the pool is the same every
pool around the world it looks exactly
the same same height same depth
everything is controlled I loved the
sport but everything become the same I
wanted to try something different and
that’s what I wanted to try cliff diving
you see with cliff diving to me some
more natural way of diving what I need
to do is find a high place as long as
there is deep water I’m ready to dive
for example when I walk around the
street and I see a bridge I don’t see a
way to cross the river I don’t see a way
to go from one side to the other I go to
the middle of the bridge look down and
start seeing if steep water maybe high
enough maybe I can jump when I’m with my
wife on vacation and we’re at a nice
beach and there is some nice cliffs
around I start looking around
swim away climb up and then all of a
sudden on diving you see it’s it’s an
Challenge every time I find a different
place and that makes it that much more
exciting now in a dive there is three
main parts before the dive that’s when
I’m standing preparing the moment of
flying when I’m falling and going
through all the motions and the final
moment which is the water entry the main
element of the dive it comes in the
first part when I’m getting ready to
jump and that is fear you see I’m sure
it happened to all of us that when you
step to a high place and you look down
there is a voice inside your head
telling you step back get away from
there yeah call it whatever it is
survival instinct is the defense
mechanism anything you want to call it
it’s just protecting you it’s just
making sure you’re not gonna do anything
crazy and you’re gonna hurt yourself
you see I step to the edge many times I
get that voice in my head and I have to
work through that that natural fear I
have to walk and pass that to be able to
jump also there is a second type of fear
that comes to me and that’s a little bit
more rational because it comes from the
knowledge I have the dive I know what
I’m about to do you see I’m not just
jumping straight down you know arms on
the side and hoping for the best I’m
doing flips and twists and I’m flipping
all the way to the water so I know that
if something goes wrong I need to make
sure that I can solve it so there comes
a second type of fear with my training
all the physical training I’ve done all
my career and all the mental training I
managed to overcome that fear you see
most people what they will do is take
two steps back climb down go home and do
an afternoon with the family you know me
I do the opposite I actually jump in the
water that’s the best part of the dive
because at that moment I’m not worried
about anything anymore I don’t even
realize what’s around me I don’t see
anybody I don’t hear anything
I’m just fully focused on what I’m about
to do during the dive the second part is
when I’m falling I’m flying through the
air it’s the it’s the nicest part of the
dive why I don’t know if you ever been
in the car and you roll down the window
and your dog sticks the head out and
he’s just smiling you know that’s how I
feel it’s it feels so good to feel the
wind in your face you know you’re
falling really fast but those three
seconds that I spent in the air in your
head they take so much longer the brain
works so fast that I feel like I’m
falling for 20 seconds 30 seconds if I
made a small mistake I have time to
think about it and try to fix it and if
everything is going right I’m just
enjoying the ride the final part is when
it comes the water entry you see when
you enter in the water this is the
moment when the dive can really go wrong
this is the only moment when things can
go bad deceleration is so hard that I’m
sustaining about 5 G’s for an instant I
weigh about 72 kilo that’s about 360
kilos that I have to support for an
instant on impact so I have to make sure
that the body is in completely vertical
position any part of the body that
sticks out of that vertical it can be
very dangerous now why am I telling you
all of this you see fear sometimes stops
us from doing what we want to do you see
if I let that fear stop me from jumping
and not trusting what I learn what I
know I can do I wouldn’t be able to
enjoy this people think because I jump
from very high places that I’m not
afraid of anything
of course the obvious questions it’s
like you may not be afraid of heights
I’m like well I’m technically I’m not
afraid of heights I’m afraid of the
water I’m afraid of what’s gonna happen
if I make a mistake and hit the water
really hard but I’m not afraid of
heights then I kept thinking because I
wanted to try to make sense of this
fears and what is it that I might be
afraid of maybe some small insects you
know some little spiders or something
but it’s not that I’m afraid of them I
don’t like him I
want to be around him but I don’t mind
him if if they’re far enough I don’t
mind if they’re around so I kept
thinking in us I was a little kid I was
afraid of the dark
you know my brother used to tell me
there’s a monster under the bed you know
there is a monster in the closet so you
don’t want to turn the light off you
don’t want mom to leave the room you
want them to be with you also I grew up
in a in a very bad neighborhood in my
city in Colleen Columbia and there were
some dark streets where you would have
walked through you know and then I
started thinking I’m not afraid of the
dark you know what I’m afraid of is
walking through that Street and maybe
some bad things are gonna happen
yeah what I want you guys to know is
that sometimes what we think we’re
afraid of maybe we just don’t have
enough information about it or we may
not have gone deep enough to understand
that we are not afraid of it I convinced
myself that I can do it
[Music]
I want to have that feeling of falling
again this is my first time in Africa
the idea is in chomp from Victoria Falls
[Music]
we started with the bad news first
that’s good I know that I will be scare
on the next one and in the next one in
the next one it’s the longest shower
he’s ever taken in his life just to be
there it’s just the best feeling another
chance that you could get caught in that
whirlpool and pull down I’ve never been
in a river with that much current nobody
has come out tonight who dare to do it
he’s telling me that he can do it
in that moment probably was a
realization of my life
[Music]
I thank you I promise that I survived
the dice I want to tell you I don’t want
you to go into crazy things yeah but
what I want to tell you is that there is
joy to be found in our fears find it
challenge it but for sure enjoy it
thank you very much
85 kilometres an hour
in just three seconds in that time
you’ll travel the full length of a
basketball court about 30 meters now
we’re going to decelerate we’re gonna go
from 85 to zero but this time we only
have four meters to stop it sounds like
a pretty fast car and one with actually
very good braking system now to make
things more complicated let’s imagine
there is nothing to protect us no
seatbelt no airbag no steering wheel
nothing just your body and mind it has
to make all of that happen and what’s
gonna stop you is the water that’s the
sound of human body makes when he hits
the water at 85 kilometres an hour you
see what I do I’m a professional cliff
diver I jump from very high places into
water if you’ve seen the highest
platform in a diving pool that’s ten
meters high I jump about three times
that high and sometimes higher
[Laughter]
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
[Music]
[Music]
[Music]
thank you very much of course this is
not where it all started when I was a
little kid I remember my mom taking me
to the pool the first thing I wanted to
do put my bathing suit on run in the
water I just wanted to run and jump in I
had no idea what I was doing but that
feeling I love dad
I just loved feeling that I was flying
most times I probably landed flat on my
back or in my stomach but I loved it you
know I love that ah I mean I’m sure a
few of you have jumped in the water
enjoyed that feeling too and also felt
the pain of of Matt landing right but a
few years later while I was in high
school I joined a diving Club now I’m
starting to learn the right technique
what is it that you need to do to do a
proper dive I fell in love with the
sport I wanted to be able to pool every
afternoon and every free time that I had
I represented my country my city the
state
I want national and international
competitions but after a while diving in
a pool becomes repetitive you see
everything in the pool is the same every
pool around the world it looks exactly
the same same height same depth
everything is controlled I loved the
sport but everything become the same I
wanted to try something different and
that’s what I wanted to try cliff diving
you see with cliff diving to me some
more natural way of diving what I need
to do is find a high place as long as
there is deep water I’m ready to dive
for example when I walk around the
street and I see a bridge I don’t see a
way to cross the river I don’t see a way
to go from one side to the other I go to
the middle of the bridge look down and
start seeing if steep water maybe high
enough maybe I can jump when I’m with my
wife on vacation and we’re at a nice
beach and there is some nice cliffs
around I start looking around
swim away climb up and then all of a
sudden on diving you see it’s it’s an
Challenge every time I find a different
place and that makes it that much more
exciting now in a dive there is three
main parts before the dive that’s when
I’m standing preparing the moment of
flying when I’m falling and going
through all the motions and the final
moment which is the water entry the main
element of the dive it comes in the
first part when I’m getting ready to
jump and that is fear you see I’m sure
it happened to all of us that when you
step to a high place and you look down
there is a voice inside your head
telling you step back get away from
there yeah call it whatever it is
survival instinct is the defense
mechanism anything you want to call it
it’s just protecting you it’s just
making sure you’re not gonna do anything
crazy and you’re gonna hurt yourself
you see I step to the edge many times I
get that voice in my head and I have to
work through that that natural fear I
have to walk and pass that to be able to
jump also there is a second type of fear
that comes to me and that’s a little bit
more rational because it comes from the
knowledge I have the dive I know what
I’m about to do you see I’m not just
jumping straight down you know arms on
the side and hoping for the best I’m
doing flips and twists and I’m flipping
all the way to the water so I know that
if something goes wrong I need to make
sure that I can solve it so there comes
a second type of fear with my training
all the physical training I’ve done all
my career and all the mental training I
managed to overcome that fear you see
most people what they will do is take
two steps back climb down go home and do
an afternoon with the family you know me
I do the opposite I actually jump in the
water that’s the best part of the dive
because at that moment I’m not worried
about anything anymore I don’t even
realize what’s around me I don’t see
anybody I don’t hear anything
I’m just fully focused on what I’m about
to do during the dive the second part is
when I’m falling I’m flying through the
air it’s the it’s the nicest part of the
dive why I don’t know if you ever been
in the car and you roll down the window
and your dog sticks the head out and
he’s just smiling you know that’s how I
feel it’s it feels so good to feel the
wind in your face you know you’re
falling really fast but those three
seconds that I spent in the air in your
head they take so much longer the brain
works so fast that I feel like I’m
falling for 20 seconds 30 seconds if I
made a small mistake I have time to
think about it and try to fix it and if
everything is going right I’m just
enjoying the ride the final part is when
it comes the water entry you see when
you enter in the water this is the
moment when the dive can really go wrong
this is the only moment when things can
go bad deceleration is so hard that I’m
sustaining about 5 G’s for an instant I
weigh about 72 kilo that’s about 360
kilos that I have to support for an
instant on impact so I have to make sure
that the body is in completely vertical
position any part of the body that
sticks out of that vertical it can be
very dangerous now why am I telling you
all of this you see fear sometimes stops
us from doing what we want to do you see
if I let that fear stop me from jumping
and not trusting what I learn what I
know I can do I wouldn’t be able to
enjoy this people think because I jump
from very high places that I’m not
afraid of anything
of course the obvious questions it’s
like you may not be afraid of heights
I’m like well I’m technically I’m not
afraid of heights I’m afraid of the
water I’m afraid of what’s gonna happen
if I make a mistake and hit the water
really hard but I’m not afraid of
heights then I kept thinking because I
wanted to try to make sense of this
fears and what is it that I might be
afraid of maybe some small insects you
know some little spiders or something
but it’s not that I’m afraid of them I
don’t like him I
want to be around him but I don’t mind
him if if they’re far enough I don’t
mind if they’re around so I kept
thinking in us I was a little kid I was
afraid of the dark
you know my brother used to tell me
there’s a monster under the bed you know
there is a monster in the closet so you
don’t want to turn the light off you
don’t want mom to leave the room you
want them to be with you also I grew up
in a in a very bad neighborhood in my
city in Colleen Columbia and there were
some dark streets where you would have
walked through you know and then I
started thinking I’m not afraid of the
dark you know what I’m afraid of is
walking through that Street and maybe
some bad things are gonna happen
yeah what I want you guys to know is
that sometimes what we think we’re
afraid of maybe we just don’t have
enough information about it or we may
not have gone deep enough to understand
that we are not afraid of it I convinced
myself that I can do it
[Music]
I want to have that feeling of falling
again this is my first time in Africa
the idea is in chomp from Victoria Falls
[Music]
we started with the bad news first
that’s good I know that I will be scare
on the next one and in the next one in
the next one it’s the longest shower
he’s ever taken in his life just to be
there it’s just the best feeling another
chance that you could get caught in that
whirlpool and pull down I’ve never been
in a river with that much current nobody
has come out tonight who dare to do it
he’s telling me that he can do it
in that moment probably was a
realization of my life
[Music]
I thank you I promise that I survived
the dice I want to tell you I don’t want
you to go into crazy things yeah but
what I want to tell you is that there is
joy to be found in our fears find it
challenge it but for sure enjoy it
thank you very much
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