The mystery of the showering divers 跳水运动员冲淋的秘密 跳水, mystery, The, divers, showering

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看到郭晶晶等我国跳水运动员在跳板上的优美身姿的同时，你是否对他们在跳水后淋浴有着如本文所描述的一样的困惑：为何他们要冲淋呢——除去身上的氯，抑或仅仅为了好玩？
难度指数：★★★☆☆
By Chris Chase

After completing a dive, competitors swim to a ladder, climb out of the pool and head immediately to a bank of showers that sit adjacent to the diving boards. Then, in full view of the crowd and NBC cameras, they shower off. Divers keep their suits on, of course, usually appearing only to rinse off their hair and arms. Oftentimes, the divers will receive their scores while still showering off. What's the purpose of this?

Theories have ranged from 'to get the chlorine off' to 'they want to have fun' -- seriously, that last one is a direct quote from NBC's diving analyst, Cynthia Potter.

Neither are the reason.

Divers shower in between each dive to keep their muscles warm after getting out of the pool. The temperature of the pool water and the air are usually different (the pool is usually around 80 degrees, with the air temperature between 68 and 72 degrees). This difference can cause muscle tightness. To combat this, divers warm up in either the showers or a hot tub.

Mystery: solved. (Although we're still a bit unclear as to why the showers are out in the open. The water cube cost over $200 million to build.  They couldn't have put a privacy wall in?!)

dive     n.跳水，潜水
rinse    v. 冲洗
oftentimes   adv.经常地
chlorinen.[化学] 氯，氯水

跳水运动员完成动作之后，游到泳池边的扶梯，爬出泳池，匆匆走向紧挨跳板的一排冲淋处。然后，面对所有观众和NBC的镜头，他们开始冲淋。当然，冲淋时仍穿着泳装；他们只冲淋头部和双臂。通常，跳水运动员们边冲边等待着裁判宣布自己的成绩。他们为什么要冲淋呢？
有人猜测是为了“冲掉氯”、有人猜测是为了“好玩”，严格地说，后一种说法是直接引用NBC跳水解说员——辛斯雅·波特（Cynthia Potter）的原话。
但两个理由都不对。
跳水运动员在上一跳和下一跳的动作之间，都待在泳池外，这时他们需要保持身体的温度。多数情况下，泳池中水的温度和空气中的温度是不同的（泳池中的水温为80华氏度，而空气温度为68-72华氏度）。冷热温差会导致肌肉发紧（不利于运动员水平的发挥——译注）。为了避免这种情况，跳水运动员每完成一个动作之后就需要通过冲淋或者热水盆浴的方式保持体温。
秘密解答了。（不过，我们仍不清楚为什么冲淋处设计成敞开式的，建造水立方花费了2亿美元，一堵（能提供私密的）墙又为何不可以呢？！）