(water splashing) (laughing)
- Is she okay?
(edgy guitar music)
- So we're here at the Santa Monica Swim Center,
and we have Olympic gold medalist Chris Mears
to teach a bunch of regular people how to dive
off of that three meter springboard.
He's an Olympic gold medalist, how bad ass is is that?
- I have a participation award.
Yeah, we're ready for this!
- Alright, let's do it.
- I think it's gonna be really interesting today
to see how these guys get on because they're a bunch
of people that haven't really tried diving before.
- I'm used to being on a bike, going up and down mountains
in the pouring rain.
Jumping off a high dive for like three seconds
can't be too bad.
- I played water polo in high school and I also swam.
I hated waking up so early in the morning
so I switched to choir.
- So I actually swam.
I'm on a masters swim team, but I'm definitely not used
to diving three meters.
- My ending goal is just to not fall on my face
and have that filmed for everyone to see.
- I'm gonna have you guys jump off of the three meter board
first just so that you get used to the idea
of kind of throwing yourself off of it.
- Okay, so I'll fuck it up first,
and then you can do it properly.
- I want to crawl to the end of the board right now.
- Arms up.
Woo, nailed it!
- Should I, like, run up to it?
- No, walk to the end.
You're gonna start right onto the edge of the board.
Let's do some rocks first to get the board moving.
(water splashing)
Good job, it was good for a first jump.
- This is already a lot higher
than I could've ever imagined.
Look at how far down that is.
- There he goes.
(laughing)
What happened here, he cut off all of his height,
which meant that he almost took his ass off on the board.
- [Ricky] Michelle, how scary is it?
- Shut up, Ricky.
- When you're ready, go.
Out of everyone in round one, you came out on top.
Round one success.
When I was 15, I basically had a virus that meant
my stomach and my throat were really swollen.
My spleen ruptured and now I don't have a spleen.
There were moments when I kinda just wanted
to throw in the towel and give it all up
because it was all too much,
but every time I got to that point I ended up
just realizing that there was more to my career.
So essentially what I'm going to do is introduce you guys
to a dive without actually having to do any jump.
Then from there all you have to do is literally fall.
- I can do that.
- [Chris] Bend forward from the hips and keep your legs
real nice and straight.
You definitely jumped with your legs.
- I just want to get it over with.
- Remember to keep your legs straight and don't jump.
Don't like arch up,
just make sure you're like that, alright?
Nice and thin, yeah.
- I think I definitely did something wrong
and kind of landed on my back.
- You ever do something and you're just like
if I die doing it, at least I've got a good story.
- Stop that, man! (laughing)
- Bend down more if you can.
- [Ricky] Pop that booty like Kim Kardashian.
- [Chris] Now you're gonna fall in three, two, one.
- I can't! (laughing)
Oh my God, I just couldn't do it, dude.
- My turn.
- [Ricky] Wow.
- Like literally you know when you're watching a movie
and you see that point of view when someone's
jumping off a building and like about to die,
that's what it felt like.
- The hardest part of my road to Rio
was definitely moving away from my family and my friends.
It's very kind of difficult when you have a vision
to do something but then you then realize
you have to give up your friends, your family.
And like my dog, I couldn't see my dog anymore.
But yeah, as I said before, it was all worth it, yeah.
When you jump, you're then going to jump
and go into a tuck and then kick out and land in a dive.
- How?
What, no wait, I need an intsant replay of that
'cause I do not understand.
- I need the prayer hands.
I need everyone's blessings.
- Three things, the jump, and then in and out of the tuck
real quick, and then by that time,
you'll already be hitting the water with your hands out.
He didn't tuck.
- I hit my balls and I may not be able to have children
now after that.
- Okay, one more time.
- Is she okay?
- My ending goal is just to not fall on my face
and have that filmed for everyone to see.
That was the embarrassing moment I was talking about.
- Confidence, that's what Chris said.
- Yeah!
You totally killed that.
It was so smooth.
It was great.
No more I can't.
- Yeah, I can.
- Splay your hands.
Don't grab your hands, yeah?
Then rock with the board.
(laughing)
- I grabbed my legs.
That was like half the battle.
(laughing)
- Winning an Olympic gold medal was a life-changing moment
for so many reasons.
It felt so incredible to stand there and have something
to represent all the hard work
that I put in all these years.
- Being up there and doing that on the most basic level
was like so intimidating.
Like, I can't believe you do what you do.
- As a whole, you guys did really well.
Like for none of you to back out
and actually not take off the board.
I mean, we did hear a bit of I can't.
But, you know, you still went and you still gave it a go.
As a whole, yeah, it was really good.