Many boys and girls have both experienced the embarrassing moment when, after leaping off the diving board and hitting the water with a loud splash, they surface to find they are now buck naked.
Unless you have the drawstring on your swim trunks done up tightly, or you’re wearing a one-piece swimsuit if you’re a girl, then chances are high that the force of the impact can cause your swimsuit to slip right off.
If diving from a diving board can already cause you to lose your swimsuit, then imagine what it’s like for professional divers diving from a 10 m (33 ft) platform. How often do male divers end up losing their swimsuits?
Male divers generally don’t lose their swimsuits during a dive. This can only happen if they haven’t sufficiently tightened the strings on their swim briefs, or perhaps they forgot to do it entirely. The frequency at which they lose their swimsuit depends on how forgetful they are – most don’t forget so it doesn’t happen often.
If you’re a diver and you’re worried about this happening to you, read on to learn how divers can keep their swimsuits from slipping off, and why it’s not the end of the world if it does happen.
How do divers keep their Speedos on?
In a word: strings. They need to remember to tie up the drawstrings extremely tight to avoid having an embarrassing wardrobe malfunction live on television. It’s uncomfortable, but you can untie it immediately after the dive.
Another important factor is how tight the Speedos are. If you’ve seen what they wear when competing, you know that male divers wear some of the skimpiest, most revealing swimsuits in the whole world. For once, it’s not the girls showing too much skin.
With how tight they are, nothing is left to the imagination. You can basically see the entire outline of their private parts (don’t ask me how I know), and many divers have famously been ogled by the entire world.
One of the most prominent divers in recent memory, British Olympic gold medalist Tom Daley, revealed that he wore swim briefs two sizes too small so that “nothing falls out and is in the way when you hit the water at 35 mph”.
But strings are still the most important factor, because Daley has also revealed in the Q&A video below that he once forgot to tie up the drawstring before a dive and upon hitting the water, found his swim briefs had instantly traveled down to his ankles.
Do divers wear anything under their swim briefs?
No, divers don’t wear anything under their swim briefs. It already is underwear that you can swim and dive in. You don’t need to wear underwear under underwear!
Especially with how tight the swim briefs are, if you wear two of them then you might actually start cutting off circulation and restricting your movement.
With that said, if you’re extremely paranoid about wardrobe malfunctions and you’re not competing at a professional level, you could wear two Speedos.
Cliff divers sometimes wear two Speedos because the impact of hitting the water is so strong, not only could it cause the Speedo to slip off, but it might cause them to tear on impact.
That said, if you are wearing swim trunks and are wondering if you can wear underwear with them, unless they happen to be Speedos, the answer is no.
Generally speaking, you shouldn’t even need to wear underwear with swim trunks because the mesh liner underneath can provide support for your “package” unless your swim trunks don’t have a mesh liner..
Those of you who’re worried about your swim briefs or trunks slipping off, tie the drawstring really tight and wear Speedos underneath for an extra layer of protection.
What happens if your swim briefs slip off during a dive?
If you lose your briefs, well, you lose your briefs. It is what it is. You would probably try to find them and put them back on before exiting the pool, or have someone hand you a towel or something.
Thankfully, being partially submerged and having bubbles all around you can somewhat hide your private parts.
I mean, heck, your private parts are basically already visible even when the Speedos are on. If you have the confidence to wear Speedos in general, I think you have the confidence to handle the aftermath of your Speedos slipping off after hitting the water.
Hopefully you can use it as a learning experience and remember to always tie up the drawstring before a dive so you can avoid this embarrassing mistake in the future.
Photo Credits: Martin Rulsch, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0, CC BY-SA 4.0
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