HKCEE English Centre

News Archive

Bungee jumping reaches new heights

(Image courtesy by Esparta Palma used under
the Creative Commons Attribution License)

A J Hackett is an extreme sports enthusiast from New Zealand. He is also the man who brought bungee jumping to the world, and he recently announced his plans to break the record for the world's highest bungee jump.

Bungee jumping is an adventure sport in which people jump from a great height (like a high bridge or tall tower) with a strong elastic 'bungee' cord attached to their body. As the person falls, the cord stretches and bounces the jumper upwards just before he or she hits the ground. The sport has been around since the late 1970s and was inspired by a custom known as 'land-diving'.

Land-diving is a traditional ceremony held at the annual yam harvest on Pentecost Island in Vanuatu. During the ceremony, men and boys leap from the top of a high wooden tower with vines attached to their ankles. It is a risky jump because the vines must be strong enough to hold the weight of the divers, and must be exactly the right length. If not, the diver could crash into the tower or the ground, which could result in physical injury or even death. However, the islanders believe that their gods will be so pleased by the courage of the land-divers that they will bless the harvest and ensure a good crop of yams.

The custom began hundreds of years ago, and is thought to have been inspired by a local legend. The legend tells of a woman who often tried to escape from her abusive husband, Tamalie. One day, as Tamalie's wife tried to run away, he chased her up a tall banyan tree. She leapt off the tree and Tamalie quickly followed. However, he had not noticed that his wife had tied some vines to her legs. While she bounced back to safety, Tamalie fell to his death. Now, every year, the islanders re-enact the wife's dive to freedom. Over time, the custom has become linked with the yam harvest, and land-diving is now considered one of the island's most important harvest ceremonies.

A BBC documentary on the land-diving ceremony caught the eye of the thrill-seeking members of the Dangerous Sports Club, a group of adventurers and extreme sports enthusiasts based in the UK. They decided to try it for themselves, using thick rubber cords instead of vines. In 1979, four members of the Dangerous Sports Club made the first modern bungee jump, leaping from the 76-metre-high Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol, UK. The men were arrested soon afterwards. However, they did not let that stop them, and continued jumping from bridges, cranes and even hot-air balloons.

The members of the Dangerous Sports Club invented modern bungee jumping. However, after setting up a company to bring bungee jumping to any willing customers, A J Hackett became recognised as the founder of the sport. In 1986, Hackett made a name for himself with a highly-publicised bungee jump off Paris's Eiffel Tower. Two years later, he established his company, which over the years has seen tens of thousands of people jump head-first off high structures all around the world. Yet, despite the terrifying nature of the sport, today's bungee jumping is actually very safe. Commercial operators, like Hackett, take the safety of their clients very seriously. They follow strict safety guidelines and carefully calculate the exact length of the bungee cord required for each jumper.

In December 2006, Hackett opened his latest commercial bungee jump at the Macau Tower. When Hackett jumped from the 233-metre-high platform on the tower, he set a new world record for the highest bungee jump from a building. However, not being one to let the restrictions of building heights hold him back, Hackett is now planning to attempt the highest bungee jump ever — from a helicopter. The world-record attempt will take place above Malaysia's capital city, Kuala Lumpur, at a height of 1,500 metres. That is twice the height of the existing record, and more than three and a half times higher than Two IFC, Hong Kong's tallest building. It sounds scary, but as Hackett says, 'Why live life on the edge when you can jump off it?'

To read more about A J Hackett and his bungee jumping sites, follow this link:
http://www.aj-hackett.com

Longman Hong Kong Education is not responsible for the content of external Internet websites.

	Click the arrow to view or download the article and a set of comprehension questions

	Click the arrow to view or download the answers