The actor husband of Rosie Huntington-Whiteley might have been one other Tom Daley
Town of Plymouth is well-known for the game of diving – with Tom Daley one its most well-known sons, having received Olympic gold and three bronze medals. Earlier than Tom got here Tonia Sofa – who received European gold in 2012, and Sarah Barrow – who received two European gold medals – with the Plymouth Diving Membership the most effective within the nation.
However do you know that Plymouth has one other – though barely tenuous – hyperlink to a former skilled diver, who let’s be trustworthy, is much better recognized for what he did after retirement. We’re used to seeing Jason Statham preventing evil thugs within the movies – however he was initially destined for a fairly totally different profession.
The Quick & Livid and Transporter trilogy actor, and husband of Plymouth mannequin Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, is now one among Hollywood’s greatest and wealthiest stars, and the couple just lately welcomed their second youngster, with Isabella becoming a member of Jack of their brood.
However earlier than Jason appeared on the silver display screen in numerous blockbuster movies, it was gold he was chasing after as a teenager. The British actor had two passions throughout his youth – soccer and diving – and he made it to an impressively excessive degree.
“And it was an awesome expertise, , to journey the world and compete at a sure degree. It teaches you self-discipline, focus, and positively retains you out of bother,” he defined in a 2003 interview with IGN. Jason was practising within the pool every day and was a member of Britain’s Nationwide Diving Squad for 12 years, and he even competed for England on the 1990 Commonwealth Video games within the 10 metre, 3 metre and 1 metre competitions.
However the Snatch actor fluffed his traces when trying a triple somersault, ending up with a low rating of 13.86. After a clumsy touchdown he fortunately managed to flee with out damage, however it could be the final time he would compete at a significant competitors – by no means making it to the Olympic Video games
“It’s a little bit of a sore level I by no means received to the Olympics. I simply heard they received seven million or one thing for the diving per yr. They deserve it. The divers we’ve received now are simply terrific,” he mentioned. “I began too late. It most likely wasn’t my factor. I ought to have executed a distinct sport.”
At one stage, Jason was ranked as excessive as twelfth on this planet for platform diving however didn’t qualify for both the 1988 Seoul Olympics or the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona.
“I used to compete on a 10-meter platform and 3-meter springboard, which isn’t essentially very excessive however we used to do a specific amount of gymnastic tips off there. We’d do backwards three-and-a-halves. , like Greg Louganis,” he mentioned.
For extra movie star information, be part of our ‘Well-known individuals in Plymouth and different UK and world movie star information’ group on Fb right here In the end, Jason realised that it was a wrestle to earn a living as an newbie diver so he determined to offer it up.
“Diving was clearly a passion of mine, and being an newbie sport you possibly can’t earn any cash at that,” he defined. “So I used to place cash in my pocket whereas engaged on the road corners, promoting fragrance and jewelry, and different items that had been supposedly costly.” Jason left the diving world, however remained within the limelight as he was noticed at a sports activities centre and requested to grow to be a mannequin.
He signed modelling contracts with Tommy Hilfiger, Levi’s and French Connection, throughout which era he was launched to fledgling movie director Man Ritchie. Ritchie wanted somebody to play the position of a streetwise con artist within the undertaking he was creating and realised Jason had all of the credentials resulting from his historical past as a market salesman.
His first performing position was Bacon within the 1998 crime comedy Lock, Inventory and Two Smoking Barrels, which additionally starred his childhood buddy Vinnie Jones It was Vinnie who launched Jason to soccer as a teenager, though he clearly wasn’t as gifted on the pitch as the previous Leeds United and Wimbledon participant.
The pair additionally starred collectively in Statham’s second movie, Snatch, the place Ritchie solid him within the lead position of Turkish. Jason rose to grow to be a significant Hollywood star, usually showing because the hardman in plenty of movies As a child he received into martial arts and educated in kung fu, karate and kickboxing, which has actually helped him to play action heroes.
He had the lead position of Frank martin within the three Transporter movies, performed Lee Christmas in The Expendables and Deckard Shaw in plenty of the Quick & Livid movies. Jason did truly get to place a few of his diving expertise to the check in 2018 blockbuster The Meg, the place his character took on a terrifying large shark
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