9 ms·
Gary Hunt, the greatest cliff diver
- bleuuuu 4y agocant wait until he becomes the Jordan of the sport
- evrimoztamur 4y ago"He is, unquestionably, the greatest cliff diver of all time, “the Michael Jordan, the Muhammad Ali, the Tiger Woods” of the sport, as Steven LoBue, an American diver who had the misfortune of competing against Hunt for many years, put it in 2021."
- dr-detroit 4y ago[dead]
- ultrasounder 4y agoHe has already completed cliff diving. Messi style. But, If he wants to start a cliff diving shorts brand empire sure. Then “Air Hunt it is.
- 867-5309 4y agothe arab nation or the British model?
- zwirbl 4y agoMessi has no trainer and no ego. Good one
- kevinali1 4y agoMessi can be compared to billions of ppl are the world who play or dabble in football. This dude can be compared to what - a couple thousand?
- __derek__ 4y agoThe Messi comparison threw me, too. Maybe Alex Honnold would be a better comparison, or Ueli Steck for the European audience.
- swores 4y agoAs a European (a Brit) I haven't personally heard of either of those two people. Whereas I do know Messi, and I assume by comparing to him they mean "someone with rare skill for doing what they do better than anyone else (probably while making it look easier than it is)". Anecdote of 1 of course... but I'd also guess that I'm not an outlier, and Messi is much better known than your two suggestions in pretty much any country.
- __derek__ 4y agoConsider my comment in the context of the one that I replied to: I named big-wall climbers because their sport is similarly extreme and unusual in the broader population, unlike soccer/football which is neither. As for the climbers, Honnold achieved some normie fame as the subject of an Oscar-winning documentary[1]. Steck was also among the best climbers ever, but his speed records centered on the Alps (hence my joking aside about the Euro audience). [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Solo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Solo
- dang 4y agoOk you guys, I've taken the Messi bit out of the title above. Please focus on something more interesting now.
- aliqot 4y agoSo we're just editorializing titles now? The title of the article is "No coach, no agent, no ego: the incredible story of the ‘Lionel Messi of cliff diving’" Rules are rules. Mark it zero.
- dang 4y agoI was going by the book there. I think you may have misunderstood the rule, which reads: "Please use the original title, unless it is misleading or linkbait; don't editorialize." (https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html) That is, we specifically don't use the original title when it is misleading or linkbait, as the original title in this case was. When we do edit a title, we try to use representative language from the article itself wherever possible—e.g. a subtitle, a phrase from the text, or something else where the article says neutrally what it is actually about. That's what I did in this case; the language came from the subheading.
- kevinali1 4y agoThe Messi comment wasn't trying to be snarky. Was trying to foster an actual conversation about what it means to be great and how does context matter. Sorry if it came across as insulting or uninteresting- that was not my intention.
- dang 4y agoNo worries! There were a bunch of them and they were taking the thread off-topic and/or into shallower waters, as such things do.
- cobertos 4y agoInteresting that Red Bull didn't respond to his request for sponsorship. He said himself that he doesn't fit the mold (no self promotion, plays piano, no other extreme sports), but that seems like it might be a great strength, to attract a different audience? An odd introvert looked up to by other odd introverts? Or maybe everything about marketing/advertising will always lean towards catering to extroverts/neurotypical people. (Also unrelated, I wonder if there is a link between less anxiety and getting into an "instinctual" state. Like how he does juggling before a dive)
- aliqot 4y agoSomewhat related, Monster bev has a 'no nerds' policy. Just tongue in cheek I emailed them about sponsorship for an OSS project that was practically built by Monster Ultra Fiesta and the email response spelled it out in no uncertain terms, no nerds.
- abfan1127 4y agothis seems like a business opportunity...
- scottyah 4y agoTons of esports energy drinks for nerds
- teruakohatu 4y agoCan you quote the email specifically?
- cobertos 4y agoI would love to see their wording as well.
- dokem 4y agoI think the extreme part is the height. And the impression I get is that we already maxed out the height in the 80s because you can only jump from so high. So the sport is kind of dead. I haven't looked into it at all because, like most people, i just don't find it very interesting.
- rsyring 4y ago> Gary Hunt was 24, skinny and pale. He was still so inexperienced from such heights that he wore two pairs of Speedos for extra protection. So, it's the second pair of speedos that ups the protection? Is one pair that much better than two pair when hitting the water at 50 MPH?
- Cerium 4y agoI suspect it is for increased ingress protection.