The perfect dive will have the smallest splash, like this highest scoring Olympic dive ever by Matthew Mitcham from 2008.

完美的跳水應該要盡可能地減少水花，就像 Matthew Mitcham 在 2008 年奧運時得到的跳水史上最高分一樣。

But it's not just this that determines the splash.

但是水花的大小並不是全都取決於在空中的動作。

It's what happens underwater.

在水面下的技巧也是關鍵。

To figure out how Olympic divers get such small splashes, I spoke to the guy who trains them.

為了瞭解奧運跳水選手們究竟如何只濺起一點點水花，我訪問了訓練這些選手們的人。

My name is Drew Johansen, and I'm the head diving coach for the 2020 Olympic team.

我的名字是 Drew Johansen，是 2020 年奧運美國隊的跳水主教練。

I coached in London in 2012, as well as in Rio for 2016.

我也是 2012 年倫敦奧運與 2016 年里約奧運美國隊的教練。

There's three components: there's the above water, there's the swim, and then there's the underwater save.

跳水由三個環節組成：水面上、游泳，以及水下補救。

Divers can't change much once they're in the air, so when they push off, they have to give themselves enough height, enough distance from the board, and enough angular momentum to complete the dive.

跳水選手在空中並無法作出太多的修正，所以當他們起跳之後，他們必須確保自己的起跳後的高度，以及與跳板的距離足夠，並且在期間保持足夠的角動量來完成整個跳水的動作。

You know, you're going 30 miles per hour. You have all the angular momentum of four and a half somersaults on top of it.

整個過程的速度會達到每小時 30 英哩 (約每小時 48.3 公里)，而在期間你只有四圈半的角動量。

And you're anticipating that moment of hitting the water.

還得準備好落水時的衝擊。

As they approach the water, athletes extend their body into a needlelike line, with their toes pointed, knees locked, abs tight, arms up and hyperextended over their heads, elbows pressing tight into their ears, and — most importantly — their hands in this position.

在跳水選手接觸到水面時，他們會將身體如一根針一般地打直、腳趾伸直、閉緊膝蓋、收緊腹肌、伸直手臂，並拉伸他們的頭頸部，將手肘緊貼著耳朵，還有最重要的：把手放在指定位置上。

We'll have the athletes put their hands out and have them put their thumbs together interlocking and then they'll grab on top.

我們會要求運動員們把他們的雙手伸出來，大拇指交叉之後一隻手抓緊另一隻手。

This creates what's called a rip entry — named for this sound.

這便是無水花入水技巧，其英文名稱從這動作所發出的聲音而來。

And it's crucial for breaking through the water in a way that minimizes splash.

而這便是在入水時盡可能降低水花的關鍵。

To understand why this body position is key — let's look at what happens when you're not in this position.

要瞭解為什麼這個姿勢是造成水花大小的關鍵，我們先來看看如果不是這個姿勢時會發生什麼事。

If you slip and fall for instance, like Chinese diver Chang Yani did in the FINA world cup semi finals, covered by NBC Sports.

例如不慎在跳台上滑倒並跌落下水，就如 NBC 運動台所記錄到的，中國跳水選手昌雅妮在跳水世界盃準決賽時發生的狀況。

“Oh my goodness!”

「我的老天啊！」

Splashes come in two parts.

水花分為兩個部分。

The initial splash is unavoidable.

第一個部分的水花無可避免。

As water is getting displaced, it has to move somewhere. It gets pushed down and out, creating a radial jet that shoots up at 20 - 30 times the speed of the impact.

因為水體被壓迫之後，自然必須移動到別的地方。水體被向下並向外壓迫，創造出了一個比選手的衝擊速度還要快上 20 到 30 倍的劇烈激流。

The second part of the splash is caused by the air that divers bring in with them.

水花的第二部分則是由選手帶來的空氣所造成的。

When Yani's body makes contact with the water, it creates an air-filled cavity.

當雅妮的身體接觸到水體時，便創造出了一個充滿空氣的氣泡。

As her body submerges, the cavity deepens, and the surrounding water starts applying pressure.

隨著她的身體沉入水中，氣泡也隨之下沉，而周遭的水則對這個氣泡施加了壓力。

That pressure is enough to cause the cavity to collapse in on itself: It starts filling with water from the bottom up.

這個壓力足以讓氣泡本身破裂，並讓水從下而上填滿氣泡。

There's so much pressure and energy that that water ejects straight back up toward the surface, resulting in a Worthington jet — the second pop of the big splash we see here.

蓄積下來的壓力與能量實在太大，讓水就此直接噴出表面，並形成了一個沃辛頓噴射氣流：也就是我們看到的第二個大水花。

This large splash earned Yani a scratch dive — zero points.

這個大水花讓雅妮的跳水被評為不合格：也就是零分。

Just a day later, Yani was able to create the total opposite — a tiny splash — thanks to that hand position and her controlled and rigid body. This dive scored 73.5 points.

在隔天，雅妮卻達到了完全相反的結果。多虧於正確的手掌位置以及對於肢體的紮實控制，她只濺起了一點點小水花，並跳出了 73.5 分的成績。

Just recently at our Olympic trials... we had a ninety point dive, actually, a couple of them up there on the 10 meter platform.

最近在我們奧運代表團的選拔會時，我們紀錄到了一次，不，實際上是兩次在 10 公尺跳台上的九十分紀錄。

Like this dive by Team USA member Jordan Windle, which scored 96 points.

例如這個由美國國家隊隊員 Jordan Windle 跳出的 96 分跳水紀錄。

As his flat palms make contact with the water, they push it down and out.

在他扁平的手掌接觸到水面時，便將水向下與向外撥開。

He still gets that initial, unavoidable splash — but it's tiny.

他仍造成了入水時不可避免的水花，但水花很小。

The flat hands create a cavity that's just wide enough for his body to pass through.

扁平的手掌創造出了寬度足以讓身體順利通過的空隙。

The next steps in the rip entry work to minimize that second splash, the Worthington jet.

無水花入水技巧接下來的步驟則是要減少第二個水花，也就是沃辛頓噴射氣流的影響。

And they take place underwater.

而這些步驟將在水面下進行。

As they enter the water, they're going to swim their hands out to the side.

在選手入水之後，他們會將雙手向外撥開來向下游。

This swim motion is clear in this 76.5 point dive by Andrew Capiobanco, from an Olympic trial event in Indianapolis.

這樣的游泳動作能夠在 Andrew Capiobanco 於印第安納波里斯的奧運代表團選拔會中，跳出的 76.5 分跳水動作裡清楚觀察到。

It moves some of the air brought into the water away from the center, breaking the air cavity into smaller bubbles.

這樣的動作能把入水時夾帶的空氣從中央往旁邊撥去，藉此將氣腔分化為較小的泡泡。

You'll see two white bubbles out to the side of the hole that the athlete went in.

你能在選手入水時造成的氣泡旁看到兩個白色的泡泡。

Those are the swim bubbles.

這些就是游泳泡泡。

And then the final component is another somersault that's created underwater that also will trap the air that comes into the water and prevent it from coming up through the same hole that it went in, and delays it from coming back up.

組成跳水的最後一個部份則是在水面下進行的翻滾動作，藉此來將空氣困在水面下來防止它從選手跳進水中的位置浮出水面，並延緩它上浮的速度。

And that's what reduces the splash as much as possible.

如此一來便能盡可能地減少水花。

This disperses air, breaking big bubbles into smaller bubbles, making them less splashy when they rise to the top.

這個動作能打散空氣，並將大的氣泡轉變為較小的泡泡，讓它們在浮出水面時所製造出的水花更小。

If performed correctly, the bubbles will be so small, that it looks almost like the water is boiling at the surface.

若是整體的動作執行正確，泡泡會微小到從水面上看起來好像只是水燒開了一樣。

The perfect splash is what appears to be no splash at all.

最完美的水花便是完全沒有水花。

There's no official rules on splash size in the FINA rule book, but judges do use it to impact scores.

儘管國際游泳聯合會的規則書中並沒有對於水花大小的官方規則，但評審能夠用它來影響最終的分數。

It will fall under the category of overall impression.

水花的大小被歸類在整體印象的評分類別之中。

The judges will look at the technical elements and they have the leeway in our subjective sport.

評審會先評量技術層面的要素，然後再以自身標準衡量這個主觀的運動。

When the dive has that exclamation point on the end of it, it does bring the scores up and it is within the rules for the judges to do that.

而有著令人驚嘆的結尾的跳水，確實會讓整體分數提升，而評審們也有權這麼評分。

Getting a perfectly small splash isn't the point of diving.

跳水的重點並不是要比誰能濺起最小的水花。

However, it is the punctuation to a job well done.

但這確實是對完成一次美妙跳水的完美句號。