The Finns have sauna and the Scots have caber tossing. In Norway, we have the insane belly flop diving sport døds – also known as 'death diving'. Lets dive in!
Døds – the world's riskiest diving sport?
Picture yourself standing on the edge of a towering cliff, heart pounding, ready to execute a plunge into the unknown. Døds diving combines precision, courage, and a touch of insanity as competitors showcase their acrobatic skills while plummeting towards the water below.
"The Norwegian belly flop contest is the world’s best show of human ability,” writes Digg. The Daily Mail calls it “hilarious” and “the most painful (and bizarre) sport in the world”. They’re talking about dødsing, the Norwegian term for 'death diving'. Some also call it the national extreme sport of Norway.
The sport was invented in 1972 by Erling Bruno Hovden at Frognerbadet in Oslo, where informal competitions have been held since 1998. In 2020, the event moved to Oslo's Filipstadkaia next to Tjuvholmen, and has been sold out with an avid crowd of 3,000 attending.
A classic døds dive involves maintaining a horizontal X-pose for as long as you dare – typically jumping from a 10-metre-high diving tower – and then curling into a ball just before you hit the water. In the freestyle variant, you can do tricks and strike other poses as well. It’s thrilling to watch.
It's not without danger, though. If you’re lucky, you can survive the impact without significant pain – but there’s some truth behind the horror stories of punctured lungs and broken noses.
In 2024, the winner was Truls Torp, a 25-year-old from Fredrikstad. He also won in 2016 (pictured below), 2017 and 2023.
"Dødsing is about showing that you have full control in the air."
Truls Torp
Torp used to do gymnastics and has developed a distinctive diving technique, accompanied by an impressive lack of fear.
“Dødsing is about showing that you have full control in the air. In my winning dive I lay completely relaxed during the fall while making a 360-degree rotation. I landed right on my face and made a splash that hit the judges,” he told Visit Norway after winning in 2016.
If you want to try dødsing, always take the necessary precautions. Make sure there are others there to help if needed, check if anyone is swimming underneath where you are going to jump, and always ensure the spot is deep enough for diving.
Frognerbadet in Oslo is only open in summer, and the water temperature is 25 degrees Celsius. There are a lot of other good swimming spots in Oslo that can be visited during both summer and winter. Have you tried ice bathing from the saunas along the Harbour promenade, for example?Whether you want to do something wild like death diving or enjoy a casual dip, Norway's got you covered!
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