Why does Guo Jingjing and other divers take a shower between dives?

Ever wonder why Guo Jingjing and other divers take showers between dives!?


The truth is out there ... Check out Yahoo.com
After completing a dive, competitors swim to a ladder, climb out of the pool and head immediately to a bank of showers that sit adjacent to the diving boards. Then, in full view of the crowd and cameras, they shower off. Divers keep their suits on, of course, usually appearing only to rinse off their hair and arms. Oftentimes, the divers will receive their scores while still showering off. What's the purpose of this?
Theories have ranged from 'to get the chlorine off' to 'they want to have fun' -- seriously, that last one is a direct quote from NBC's diving analyst, Cynthia Potter. Neither are the reason.
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.
Mystery: solved. (Although we're still a bit unclear as to why the showers are out in the open. The Water Cube cost over $200 million to build. They couldn't have put a privacy wall in?!)


So ... who's Guo Jingjing? She's probably the 3rd most famous person in the games, after Michael "Greatest Olympian" Phelps and Usain "Pounds his chat, forgets to lace up, and runs 9.69s" Bolt!
Timesonline.co.uk (August 10th)
Guo Jingjing, known as the diving diva of the Chinese team after she called one of her rivals, Blythe Hartley, "the fat Canadian", and her partner Wu Minxia gave China the first of what is expected to be eight gold medals off the boards at the Water Cube.
Guo and Wu, the current world champions, defended the 3 metre synchronised springboard title they won four years ago in Athens, finishing with 343.50 points. The pair led through all five rounds, their every twist and turn accompanied by wild cheering by their red flag-waving fans. The loudest cheer rang out when Guo and Wu received three 10s for synchronicity on their backward dive in the second round.


BBC.co.uk (August 17th)
Guo Jingjing became the most successful woman diver in Olympic history by winning gold in the individual three-metre springboard on Sunday.
The Chinese dominated the event with a run of brilliant dives to beat Russia's Julia Pakhalina and Wu Minxia of China.
It was the 26-year-old superstar's second gold of the Beijing Games and the sixth of her career.
And Guo, one of China's richest sports stars, has now backtracked on her desire to retire after this Olympics.
"In 2004 I already won all the gold medals I could, but I continued because in 2008 we were going to have the Games in our motherland," she said after her victory. "But in these four years I realised that I really do enjoy diving. I like to dive, and I like the feeling of standing on the diving board. "Because I like it I feel I can't give it up, so if I can, I will continue."
Guo passed the five medals won by countrywoman Fu Mingxia in her career with her second gold of this Games after she won the synchronised 3m event with Wu last weekend.
It is the first time a diver has won individual and synchronised gold in consecutive Olympics.


Juliansi.blogspot.com says ... I don't think any of us are complaining that she is extending her career, perhaps her competitors are slightly miffed ... Hah!