The accident of the jumper Carlos Gimeno that left him unconscious for 15 minutes: "How to repeat something that almost killed you?"

“It was in Macau, in 2018. He was training to debut in the Red Bull series of high jumps. There he had a 27-meter springboard and was practicing a new exercise, four reverse somersaults.. I jumped in and just as I came out I hit my hand on the platform, lost control, fell face down into the water and was unconscious for almost 15 minutes.. They had to revive me with shovels. Then I spent many sleepless nights, thinking about the jumps, thinking about that jump.”

The Spanish Carlos Gimeno speaks of the trauma of his career, the accident that almost retired him before he even started. How did you get over it? What was he doing in Macau? And, above all, a 27-meter springboard?

Yes, yes, 27 meters. High jumps, before crazy, a thing of senselessness, are now one more specialty of the World Swimming Championships that are being held these days in Fukuoka. With the financial support of the Red Bull series -which previously made a stop in Bilbao-, for 10 years the discipline has become more professional and there are already a dozen jumpers from all over the world who live from what they do in the air. One of them is Gimeno, from Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, who did three and 10 meter springboard jumps in his youth, left it to focus on his studies -Social Work- and returned, but already at heights.

That's what I was doing in Macao. That's. I spent five years working there, from 2015 to 2020, in a show called 'The house of dancing water', by one of the creators of the Cirque du Soleil, Franco Dragone. It was a gigantic show, its assembly had cost 200 million euros, and we did it inside a shopping center where there were five hotels, a casino…. It helped me to earn money and to learn to jump from higher. There were two platforms there, one of 20 and one of 27, and I was practicing until I decided to focus on competing.

In 2015 Gimeno became the first and only Spaniard in a World Cup, but later he wanted to gain a foothold in the Red Bull World Series. His goal was to rub shoulders with the best, show you could do original moves, earn enough to do it.. He was in it when he suffered the accident that almost cost him his life.

So how did he get over it? Mentally the trauma stayed with me. I still think about what happened today. But I fought, I believed in myself. I worked a lot psychologically. How to repeat something that almost killed you? It's hard. But three months later, in my first Red Bull competition, precisely in Bilbao, I made that same jump.. Then I have had victories and also other injuries, but what I am most proud of is to have overcome that.

Gimeno is now one of the favorites for the medal in the World Cup final to be held on Thursday 27 (Tuesday 25 will be the previous rounds) thanks to his recent results. In the European past he could only be seventh, but in the World Cup in the United States in May he finished second and, therefore, he is second in the world ranking. His rivals will be the British Gary Hunt, absolute legend of the heights, the Romanians Constantin Popovici and Catalin-Petru Preda and the Mexican Jonathan Paredes.. In the female category, Carlota González, the second Spanish in history after Celia Fernández, penultimate in 2019, will compete.

Do you still feel fear? It always stays with you and helps you. This is a precision sport, you have to measure your movements to the millimeter. If you enter the water well, you'll already be grounded because we reach 80 or 90 km/h, if you enter badly…. To combat that fear you train a lot. Reps and more reps from 10-meter springboards to nail every jump. It costs a lot to add difficulty because before you need to have everything under control. This year I feel that I have reached the highest level. At the level of doing five back flips or four and a half from the handstand. That's why I think I can get a medal.