Olympic Diver Chris Is Our Local Hero
Olympic Diver Chris Is Our Local Hero
Olympic diver Chris Mears is used to competing at the top and his achievements alone make him worthy of our Local Hero title. His success is remarkable when you hear that he almost died while training in Australia for the Youth Olympic Festival.
Chris is a GB diver based at The Quays Swimming and Diving Complex in Southampton. He competed at the 2012 London Olympics in the men’s 3 metre springboard individual and synchro events with his teammate Nicholas Robinson-Baker. The pair finished in fifth place, while Mears was ninth in the individual competition.
Amazing, when you consider that in January 2009 while training in Sydney he was suffering from Glandular Fever, but was not displaying the usual symptoms. His organs were squeezed by swelling and his spleen ruptured.
Chris suffered two mini seizures and was taken to the nearest hospital. After losing 5 pints of blood and being given just a 5% chance of survival by doctors, he managed to pull through. For several days he was kept alive by medical intervention and suffered a 7-hour seizure which led to a 3-day coma.
He has a 12-inch scar down the middle of his abdomen and requires more sleep than the average person due to the removal of his spleen. Many people would have long lasting disabilities or brain damage after being so ill, but after a long and slow recovery Chris returned to competition.
Chris and Nicholas won a silver medal during the 2011 FINA Diving World Series, were placed fourth in the 2010 Commonwealth Games and won a bronze medal during the 2013 Diving World Series in Edinburgh. Chris also participated in the 2012 European Championships, finishing 8th in the 3 m springboard and 5th in the synchro event on the same occasion.
Chris is currently recovering from a major injury and is looking forward to getting back in the pool as soon as is possible.
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