Pool diving with improper technique and/or heights
 

Been watching some old Olympic diving events, and it's always looked quite terrifying.

As a kid, I used to spend about every day in the summers running and jumping head first from either the 3m springboard or 5m platform. I wasn't taught how to do it and so most of the time I was stupid and often dove head-first with no hands to break the surface of the water. In other words, my head would be the first thing to touch the water. I probably did this about 50-100x a day about every summer for several years. I'd also run and do front and backflips, often landing badly. I'm sure I whacked the back of my head into the water a decent amount of times as well.

Yet I don't recall anyone, including myself, ever knocked out or showing serious signs of concussion at any point. I also can't recall seeing pro divers seriously injured with head injury from faulty landings unless they hit the diving board/platform, etc.

Is the head hitting the water really not as dangerous as I'm imagining? In my case, it was almost always from the 3m board with the additional height of however high I could jump.

Obviously, it's an incredibly stupid idea to dive into water without using the hands for a number of reasons including hitting the bottom of the pool surface. Everyone should be properly trained/instructed on how to safely dive from any height. And I can't imagine diving from 10m Olympic heights regardless of skill level.

I can't imaging anybody diving without using their hands to break the water. It is just too hard on the face as the water rips at the eyes. I have never seen anybody do this unless they were doing upside down cannon balls.

The simple answer is, No, this was not injurious. Your neck would have been at greater risk if you did hit hard enough to traumatize the brain.

I honestly think you are stretching things a bit. The slap of the water would not feel good to your skin and face.