🏛️Official — Red Bull
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Never pressure a diver to commit who is hesitating on the platform
If a diver pauses, steps back, or signals they are not ready, no coach, official, or fellow competitor applies verbal pressure to hurry them. At heights where a poorly committed dive can cause serious injury, forcing someone through hesitation is considered dangerous and disrespectful.
Absolute silence during a diver's platform preparation
When a diver steps onto the platform and begins their physical and mental preparation, all competitors, coaches, and on-site officials maintain complete silence. The noise of the crowd is accepted, but those inside the competition zone go quiet. Disturbing a diver's focus at 27m is considered a serious breach.
Don't debut an untrained dive in competition
Attempting a dive in competition that has not been thoroughly trained and landed in practice is considered reckless and disrespectful to the sport's safety culture. At 27m, an undertrained dive risks serious injury and reflects poorly on the diver's professionalism. Elite divers are expected to only compete with dives they genuinely own.
Water read before diving an unfamiliar natural site
At natural cliff locations (as opposed to purpose-built platforms), it is expected that divers fully assess water conditions — depth, currents, submerged obstacles — before any practice dive. Skipping this step is seen as irresponsible both to oneself and to others who may follow assuming the site has been checked.
Forward: facing water, rotating forward; Back: back to water, rotating backward; Reverse: facing water, rotating backward
Why people argue about this
People often assume that the dive categories in cliff diving are strictly based on body position at impact — thinking it's just a fancy way of saying forward, backward, etc. But actually, these categories refer to how you enter the water and can vary more depending on the angle and trajectory of your entry, leading to confusion about what exactly constitutes each category.
Feet-first entry only (head-first prohibited from cliff-diving heights due to neck-injury risk); Vertical body alignment, minimal splash = highest scores
Why people argue about this
People often argue that head-first entry is safer for cliff divers because it allows them to control their descent more easily, whereas feet-first seems riskier as they're vulnerable to flipping over. However, the official reasoning behind prohibiting head-first entry is to mitigate neck injury risks during the high-speed plunge and subsequent impact on landing.
Single round = 4 dives per athlete; 2 dives in Round 1 (lower DD), 2 in Round 2 (higher DD); Athletes pre-submit dive list specifying take-off + somersault + twist combinations
Why people argue about this
People often assume that athletes have multiple rounds with different dives in each round, which leads them to believe they need to plan for a variety of combinations across two higher DD dives and two lower DD dives, when in fact, they only compete once and must choose from the specified list of dives provided by organizers.
Swimwear: form-fitting suit (men: brief; women: one-piece); World Aquatics-approved textile materials; No goggles or accessories carried during dive; Cap (optional, decorative or aerodynamic)
Why people argue about this
People often argue that the material of their suits is too restrictive for comfort during dives, misunderstanding that the key aspect is compliance with World Aquatics-approved textile materials, which ensures safety and fairness across all athletes regardless of personal preference or fit.
Platform: 27 m for men, 21 m for women (vs World Aquatics High Diving's permanent 20m platforms); Platforms positioned over deep open water (minimum 5-7 m depth required); Platform width: 1.5-2 m typical
Why people argue about this
People often assume that the exact dimensions of 27m for men and 21m for women are chosen arbitrarily, but actually these measurements are based on safety considerations ensuring there's enough room for a safe landing while also providing an appropriate challenge level for each gender.
Men's field: typically 14 permanent divers + 2 wildcard entries per event; Women's field: typically 12 permanent divers + 2 wildcard entries per event; Officials: head referee + 5 judges + technical officials + safety divers + boat marshals
Why people argue about this
People often assume that the 14 vs. 12 permanent divers rule applies only to gender-based divisions, forgetting that it's a per-event quota regardless of whether it’s for men or women. The confusion arises because they overlook the fact that this quota system is in place across all events within the competition, not just segregated by gender.
Single round = 4 dives per athlete; 2 dives in Round 1 (lower DD), 2 in Round 2 (higher DD); Athletes pre-submit dive list specifying take-off + somersault + twist combinations
Why people argue about this
People often assume that the feet-first entry requirement is just about safety and technique, but they overlook the fact that it's also rooted in historical tradition of male athletes performing from a handstand position for men’s competition heights greater than 27 meters, which has been a part of the sport since its inception.
Each judge scores 0-10 in half-point increments (typical range 5-9 at elite level); Drop high + low scores; sum middle 3; Multiply by dive's degree-of-difficulty (DD typically 3.0-6.0)
Why people argue about this
People often assume that the scoring system is purely subjective based on judges' personal preferences for each dive, forgetting that it's calculated by multiplying each half-point score by a difficulty factor assigned beforehand. Thus, they overlook how the official rule actually breaks down scores into an objective calculation process.
Failed dive (no entry, head-first attempt at full speed, balking on platform): 0 points for that dive; Different dive than declared: may receive zero or judge-discretion lower score; Late on the platform (no dive within 1 minute of call): failed dive
Why people argue about this
People often assume that entering the water head-first is just a bad dive, forgetting that it's also explicitly forbidden by the rules in Cliff Diving, leading them to overlook how they could be penalized for this violation under Red Bull's scoring system.
Cliff diving from 27 m involves ~85 km/h water entry — improper technique can cause severe injury (spinal compression, internal organ trauma, fractures). , Sisikon, Polignano).
Why people argue about this
People often assume that the mandatory pre-event medical screening is only for identifying physical health issues like fractures or internal organ trauma, but they overlook its role in assessing mental readiness for such high-risk activities, leading to misunderstandings about who needs it and why.