I lived in Bangkok and Singapore for over 13 years, where it is summer year round, and the temperatures are commonly in the low to mid 30’s Celsius (high 80’s Fahrenheit), and sometimes high 30’s Celsius (100+ Fahrenheit). And for every single one of those years, I had a nice big swimming pool within 10 meters of my apartment.

Jumping into the pool was an absolute delight!

But not for high-performance swimmers, athletes who have trained by jumping into water 12 degrees (20 Fahrenheit) colder than their body temperature, since they were kids. The bracing shock apparently never goes away.

“The worst part about being a swimmer? Jumping in the pool.”

“Jumping into the water when It’s 6am in the winter – it is the last thing you want to do.”

“It’s the worst part of any swimmer’s day.”

Click on the above picture or go to this link and see grown men and women revert back into little kids just thinking about it.