Jason Statham Makes Appearance at High Diving Event in Russia

Many know the acclaimed actor Jason Statham for his roles as Deckard Shaw in the Fast and Furious series, Jonas Taylor in the Shark series The Meg, or as Lee Christmas in the star-studded cast of The Expendables. But before his career in Hollywood took off, he was a competitive diver who even represented his home country of England on the international stage.

The now 58-year-old action star was seen at a high diving event in Moscow, Russia, as shown in a post on Instagram from Russia Aquatics, wearing a competition suit, warming up with several athletes, and taking pictures with fans.

🤩 The probability of meeting Jason Statham on high-diving in Moscow is small, but never equal to zero!

At such a cool tournament, the guests are respectively cool too.

Statham began his diving career early in life, joining a club before his teenage years after seeing a man do high diving in Miami while on a family vacation, which led him to pursue the sport for the next decade.

“I was on holiday in Florida with my mom and dad… And there was a guy who used to do a high dive at noon every day from one of the hotels we stayed in. And I say ‘when we get home, I am going to do that.’ Statham said in a report from Olympics.com. “I joined the club then, I was like 11 or 12 years old. Within a year, I was part of the British team and it gained momentum and I spent the next 10 years doing that.”

Statham joined the British National Diving Club in 1985 and went on to represent both England and Great Britain on the international stage, including the 1990 Commonwealth Games in Auckland, New Zealand.

At those games, Statham finished 8th in the 1-meter springboard. and 11th in both the 3-meter springboard and 10-meter platform.

Below is a video of Statham at those games (courtesy of Athena Media on YouTube).

Despite a long and successful acting career that has made him one of the most recognizable action stars in Hollywood, Statham admits that not making an Olympic Diving team is one of his biggest regrets, despite competing at a pair of Olympic Trials in 1988 and 1992.

“It’s a bit of a sore point that I never got to the Olympics.” Statham said in that report from Olympics.com. “The divers now are just terrific, I started too late. It probably wasn’t my thing. I should have done a different sport.”