Ever since a young age, we are taught that sports have a plenty of benefits for our body and our spirit. Besides being the best form of physical activity, most sports teach us about team work, enhances our personality and mental strength and encourage us to take risks in life. Well, apparently, some people have taken that taking risks thing way too seriously and so created some of the most dangerous sports, some of which life-threatening for animals and people.
A famous Italian writer from the 15th century, named Niccolo Machiavelli, once said: “Never was anything great achieved without danger”. He probably didn’t mean that you can’t achieve glory, success, power and money without torturing and eventually killing an innocent animal, yet we have famous bull riders. I assume he also didn’t mean that you need to break every bone in your body in the name of the glory, yet people are jumping off tall buildings just to get a kick. Since we, the humans, do all sorts of genius and stupid things for bizarre reasons, these dangerous sports shouldn’t be much of a surprise for anyone.
The World’s Most Dangerous Sports
In most physical sports, there is some level of danger, but in the following sports, the danger level can lead athletes to career-ending injuries and even death. From popular and seemingly safe sports to sports that can totally break your spirit, mind and body, here are 8 of the most dangerous sports in the world.
#1 – Bull Riding
Bull riding is not only the most dangerous sport in the world, but it is also an unnecessary torture of bulls just for laughs. First of all, I’m surprised that people actually find it funny to get on a large 1000-kg bull and try to atop it for 8 seconds (OMG, sooo funny). Second, I’m devastated from the fact that bull riders don’t spare a single second to look the bull in the eyes and see their fear and pain, but instead consider this torture to be a form of art. Third, if the bull succeeds to throw you off and then steps on you, you may end up with a ton of broken bones and if the bull unintentionally steps on your neck (note: UNINTENTIONALLY!), you may lose your life. Unfortunately, some people are able to look beyond their and the bulls’ pain and fear.
#2 – Base Jumping
BASE jumping is widely considered as a lethal sport, because jumping off incredibly high Buildings, Antenna, Span (bridges) or Earth (cliffs) with a single parachute to keep you from landing to your grave doesn’t sound like a non-lethal sport. Although having a parachute mounted on your back promises a safe landing, sometimes it doesn’t open and people reach the ground at an incredible speed and die. The wind could also fatally slam you into an object you didn’t anticipate, such as a power line or a mountain. For that reason, BASE jumping in banned in many countries over the world, including some in the United States.
#3 – Big Wave Surfing
Big wave surfing is a unique, but bizarre and extremely dangerous discipline of surfing in enormous waves that are over 25 feet high. The life-threatening risk of drowning in high velocity currents is surely an important consideration and this sport is definitely not for the faint-hearted. Other hazards are slamming against a hidden, big rock and getting your board turned over – both as lethal as drowning. Anyone can try to surf on a big wave, but not anyone can come back alive.
#4 – Heli-Skiing
The very fact that the name of this sport hints helicopters makes it dangerous, but this sport goes to extremes you’d never imagine. Helicopters have been assisting skiers to access remote terrains ever since the early 1950s, but heli-skiing became a sport a decade later. Compared to standard skiing, heli-skiing is much more difficult and requires skills of a pro-skier, as skiing takes place where no one else has done it, far away from people. You should be confident in your abilities, have endurance, be familiar with difficult skiing runs in various conditions and have a vast of experience. Sudden weather change, avalanche and improper helicopter ride are serious threats, but as with any other dangerous sport, this sort of adrenaline comes at a price of risking your bones and your life.
#5 – Skuba Diving
You’ve seen those pictures of skuba divers, right? Everything’s blue, divers wear all sorts of equipment, there is usually an aquatic animal (small, of course) and it makes you wish you were there. Scuba diving (Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus) is seemingly safe and extremely enjoyable, but as you go deeper, you realize that it brings a huge set of risks. The obvious risk of pretending to be a fish is being a potential bait for bigger fish, such as sharks. However, that’s not as common as the danger of decompression illnesses that occurs from fast ascending diving. This illness can cause permanent damage to your spinal cord, lungs or brain.
#6 – Cave Diving
If you thought scuba diving is dangerous and would never try it, how about diving into caves in water and off map? To like this bizarre sport, it seems like you have to be out of this world, but those who do cave diving are as much humans as we are. Some of the most dangerous potential threats in this sport are getting lost, getting separated from your diving partner or squad, hypothermia, low visibility and air loss. Unlike skuba diving, you can’t come up for air any time you need it, because you’re in a rocky cave. With such terrible hazards, any dive you return from is considered as successful dive. So, if you like to explore a cave, there’s nothing wrong with the caves we have on the surface. If you like diving, go for safer, open-sea diving. If you want to try the real deal called cave diving, just dive in, but first, leave your dearest a note.
#7 – Swimming
Surprised? You should be, because swimming is the last sport I’d put on a list of dangerous sports if I haven’t discovered some shocking stats. According to the Center for Disease and Prevention, 10 people die from drowning on a daily basis and people who suffer non-fatal injuries in this sport can end up with a severe brain damage that can leave them in a permanent vegetative state. The odds of dying are 1 in 56,587.
#8 – Mountain Climbing
Watching people climbing a mountain can be amusing, but climbing a mountain yourself is not amusing at all if you consider the dangers. It doesn’t matter if you’re climbing up or down, because it’s dangerous either way. And it doesn’t need much explaining why this sport is dangerous. Climbers deal with a variety of physical injuries from falls: broken bones, back injuries, torn ligaments, sprained muscles, twisted ankles, frostbite and even concussion and death. Sudden weather changes are also a threat.
If you’re up for one of these sports, first make sure that your insurance covers your adrenaline-seeking quests.
