‘If you were a horse, we’d shoot you’ – how Leon Taylor fought back after Olympic dreams took a dive

Healthy Beast

Leon Taylor broke a British diving-medal drought of 44 years when he won silver in the 2004 Athens Olympics along with diving partner Peter Waterfield. In the process, Leon also broke quite a lot of his body. The gruelling training, not to mention somersaulting from a very high platform, left him with multiple reconstructive surgeries, before the doctor decided to put Leon out of his misery. But he fought back, and Leon has turned the highs and lows of Olympic diving into a successful career coaching, speaking and mentoring. I highly recommend his TEDx speech, which you can see here. Not before listening to the podcast, obviously, in which Leon talks about staying lockdown healthy, and treating movement as medicine for both our physical and mental health.