# Olympic Diving Question

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olympic-diving-question/630375>\
**Category:** The Game Room\
**Created:** [August 4, 2012, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olympic-diving-question/630375 "2012-08-04T02:08:36Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![SanDiegoTim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85e7bf/32.png) [@SanDiegoTim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanDiegoTim)\
**Post date:** [August 4, 2012, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olympic-diving-question/630375/1 "2012-08-04T02:08:36Z")

</div>

Some of the divers, maybe just the Chinese, have red “pads” on their backs. What are they?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![USCDiver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uscdiver/32/354_2.png) [@USCDiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/USCDiver)\
**Post date:** [August 4, 2012, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olympic-diving-question/630375/2 "2012-08-04T02:26:17Z")

</div>

It’s elastic tape. There was a similar thread two or three days ago with links and stuff. I can’t find it at the moment.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\
**Post date:** [August 4, 2012, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olympic-diving-question/630375/3 "2012-08-04T02:29:02Z")

</div>

I first saw this stuff in 2008. There was speculation as too how much it really does. You see it on a lot of beach volleyball players(on their shoulders, mainly).