As an amateur athlete there is nothing more worthwhile and thrilling than representing your country at a major competition. However, there is also nothing more heart-wrenching than failing on such a big stage. For this pair of Filipino divers, they might have scored 0.0 on their dives, but they scored a perfect 10 in Internet comedy. Their performance has unfortunately brought up the question of whether or not these horrendous attempts were intentional.
At the 2015 Southeast Asian Games being held in Singapore, a couple of dives from the men’s 3-meter springboard event have caught the attention of comedy fans and the ire of sporting fans.
In the video, you can see John Elmerson Fabriga prepare for a reverse 2 1/2 somersaults in the pike position. You can immediately tell something is going wrong when his pike position collapses into a tuck position as he tries to complete his rotations, and in the end he doesn’t make it and crashes into the water right on his back.
Such a spectacular mistake is given a fitting score of zero points. You can see him try to laugh it off with his friends as the focus shifts from him to his teammate who is up next on the diving board.
John David Pahoyo is slated to do the exact same dive as Fabriga, but it’s clear that this one is going to end terribly as well. His take off is well below the height required to complete the rotations and he lands in almost the same position as his teammate.
Pahoyo scores an identical zero points from the judges, but sometimes things just don’t go the way you planned. Or do they? The Chair of the Philippines Sports Commission is suspicious of the two dives and is waiting for an explanation from the aquatics chief. He wants to know if the two divers intentionally missed their dives as getting zeros in an international competition is extremely rare.
There has been no official comments made yet, but Pahoyo himself wrote on a thread where the video was posted saying, “I even laughed at myself after I did this dive. I am still proud because not all of us has the privilege to represent our own country to such a big sporting event like this. And by the way can I ask all of you if you can still smile after getting embarrassed in front of thousands of people?”
Seems like the perfect attitude for someone who’s sporting dreams took a big hit just the other day. Whatever doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger. Let’s hope these zero point dives make the two into better divers.
Source, images: YouTube/Bampire TheDog
Additional Information: TIME
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