Poilievre will do 'anything to win,' must condemn Alex Jones endorsement: Trudeau
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is ramping up his attacks on Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre as he promotes his government's federal budget.
A diver's chamois cloth, or shammy, serves an important purpose, but athletes don't always look where they're tossing their towels before they launch from the springboard or platform.
During competition warmups, when athletes are getting out of the pool, climbing the ladders and waiting their turn on the boards, wet cloths falling from a height onto heads and hands below are an occupational hazard.
"A couple times a week maybe, but usually more in competitions because there's so many people," said Calgary diver Caeili McKay, who will make her Olympic debut in Tokyo.
"It's happened a couple of times when it's hit me in the eye and I can't see for the rest of practice."
When a sopping wet cloth was dropped from the 10-metre tower onto Meaghan Benfeito's finger at the pool's edge during training, it stung.
"I look where I kind of throw my shammy," the Montreal diver said. "I try not to hit anybody. It doesn't happen as often as people think, but it really hurts."
Diving is an equipment-light sport with the shammy part of the kit.
If hands and legs are too dry or too wet, divers can't properly grip their upper legs while they're spinning fast in mid-air.
The shammy's purpose is to mop the body to the right balance of dryness and moistness.
"You kind of need your hands to be a little wet so you can grip onto your legs," Benfeito explained. "You want your legs to be dry, but your hands to be a little moist-ish."
There is shammy etiquette that isn't always followed.
Brains are more preoccupied with the upcoming dive than where the shammy falls on the pool deck for quick retrieval after emerging from the pool.
"You tie it in a knot, make sure no one is walking (underneath) and then you chuck it either down or across the pool so no one gets hurt," McKay explained.
Shammy missiles are more common from the 10-metre platform than the three-metre springboard because divers in the latter have a closer view of what or who is below them on deck.
"Usually it's more the people on tower, that they don't see each other and they just throw their shammy down, so they get hit more often," said four-time Olympian Jennifer Abel.
Benfeito, a triple Olympic bronze medallist on the tower, says retrieving her shammy and mopping her body after a dive gives her a little psychological reset in a sport in which she launches herself off the equivalent of a three-story building.
"I think it's more of a comfort zone than anything else. It's yours, right?" Benfeito said. "Nobody else can touch it."
Abel says her shammy isn't a security blanket, but there have been moments where it is special to her.
"A few years ago my shammy was black and I was the only one that had a black shammy," Abel said.
"At the (2016) Olympics, I have a picture with me throwing my black shammy and that picture was everywhere and I love it. It's even in my room."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 19, 2021.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is ramping up his attacks on Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre as he promotes his government's federal budget.
A Winnipeg man said a single date gone wrong led to years of criminal harassment, false arrests, stress and depression.
Ukraine for the first time has begun using long-range ballistic missiles provided secretly by the United States, bombing a Russian military airfield in Crimea last week and Russian forces in another occupied area overnight, American officials said Wednesday.
A Toronto couple are speaking out about their 'extremely dangerous' experience on board a sinking tour boat in the Dominican Republic last week.
There are 63 wildfires burning in Alberta's forest protection area as of Wednesday morning and seven mutual aid fires, including one in the Municipal District of Peace.
The Edmonton Police Service has released a number of surveillance videos related to a series of extortion cases in the city now dubbed 'Project Gaslight.'
Arrests have been made after five men were captured on video rampaging through a jewelry store in Toronto, waving weapons and smashing glass display cases.
New video evidence uncovered by CNN significantly undermines two Pentagon investigations into an ISIS-K suicide attack outside Kabul airport, during the American withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.
A Polish pilot proposed to his flight attendant girlfriend during a flight from Warsaw to Krakow, and she said yes.
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.
Kevin the cat has been reunited with his family after enduring a harrowing three-day ordeal while lost at Toronto Pearson International Airport earlier this week.