I’ve mentioned before that I spent much of my formative years as a competitive swimmer; when I got back into the water as an adult, I joined a Masters team, mostly for the workouts but with the aspirational hope I might once again find myself atop the starting blocks, raring to go another round against the clock. I didn’t quite make that second goal — actually, these days, running has pretty much eclipsed swimming for me as my primary exercise — but I still retain a special affinity for the sport. I know it’s one of the reasons both of my detectives are swimmers, and in no small part why a third character is a diver.
As I was wrapping up work on my most recent Vasily Korsokovach story, I got to thinking a bit about how much courage it takes for Alejandro to get up there on the Ten Meter platform and do what he loves to do. I tried my hand at springboard diving when I was a teenager and hated every moment of it; my one and only time climbing to the top of a diving tower had me swearing I’d never, ever, do that again. In the list of promises I’ve made to myself, that is one that has yet to be broken; if you want to know why, check out this documentary The New York Times produced a number of years ago.
I guarantee your heart will start pumping as hard as those in the video who stand at the edge of the platform and try to force themselves to make the choice to jump…. or not…