Hollywood actor Jason Statham may have become a worldwide celebrity with his plethora of action movies to his name, but the Briton has revealed that he still has one annoyance in his life — never competing at the Olympic Games.
Statham, who was in Los Angeles on Monday to attend the premier of his new movie, Mechanic: Resurrection, has spent much of the last month watching the Rio Olympics, where Britain finished second in the medals table, with 67 won over the two weeks of action, of which 27 were golds.
Watching the action in Brazil made Statham reflect on his past, when he competed as a diver, and he revealed his failure to compete at the Olympics remains a “sore point”.
Statham, 49, represented England in diving at the 1990 Commonwealth Games in New Zealand, but finished outside the medal positions in three competitions, with his best result being eighth in the 1-metre springboard.
He praised the increase in funding for diving after Team GB’s success at Rio 2016, but he believed he may have chosen the wrong sport to compete in.
Speaking on Monday, he said: “It’s a bit of a sore point I never got to the Olympics.
“I just heard they got seven million or something for the diving per year. They deserve it. The divers we’ve got now are just terrific.
“I started too late. It probably wasn’t my thing. I should have done a different sport.”
* Press Association
