Aussie dominates Cliff Dive, but Stari's deadly legacy remains

Mostar's notorious Stari Most bridge is not a cliff, but trust me, you'd more rather jump off most cliffs.

The last time I was in the Bosnian and Herzegovinian city of Mostar I stood on the gravel stones beneath the shallow river that winds it's way underneath the Stari Most bridge and watched a 19-year-old Saudi Arabian man jump to his death.

It wasn't a suicide. The Stari Most - an ancient (but rebuilt) link between the ethnic Croatian and Bosnian areas of this painfully divided city - is now less a symbol of Ottoman-era supremacy and more a dangerous tourist trap.

It's said to become a man, local boys must first jump from the 25-metre high arch into the piercingly cold, rapid water below. But not only locals attempt the dive - ill-equipped, overly confident tourists also plunge themselves off the bridge.

This 19-year-old was one of them.

When jumping from a great height, nearly 15 metres higher than the practice jump further down stream, it becomes very difficult to control the movement of your arms and you begin to desperately claw at the air around you.

Likewise, the angle of your feet and pin-drop positioning of your body, take much practice to master. Water can shatter bones like glass from heights like these.

Australia's Rhiannan Iffland, who just took out the Red Bull Cliff Diving Series for the sixth consecutive year, had years of expertise.

She also had a plethora of trained medical staff surrounding the river's base, and the jump was only scheduled on a day where the river's height and weather conditions were optimal for divers.

The Saudi man, like most tourists who embark this jump, do not have that luxury.

At best, they'll have a small raft with two-untrained organisers - the ones who take your money - waiting for you to emerge from the water.

If, like the 19-year-old, your body begins to tip forward mid-flight, your head hits the water in a forward position and you break your neck in the icy Neretva River, they can't help you.

They won't even be able to find you for several minutes.

Red Bull's Cliff Dive Series is an epic event, taking its daredevil but exceptionally talented athletes to some of the most beautiful places in the world.

The fact an Australian has dominated for so long now is a credit to this country's ability to produce sensational and corageous athletes across all disciplines.

But perhaps the exhiliration of watching these events should be enough for most people. In short, there's a few events like these that should be left to the experts.

"When I saw that last set of scores, it’s always a nice feeling. I looked around and the crowd was giving me so much energy on the platform; so that helped as well," Iffland said.

"That was the motivation today definitely, but I tried to come in here with a different mental attitude to the last few years."