Jason Statham was a top-level diver years before becoming movie hardman

Jason had a very different career before hitting the big time as an actor (Pictures: BBC/Getty)

Years before Fast & Furious and The Expendables, Jason Statham was actually a top level diver.

The action movie star used to lead a very different life, and he even represented England at the Commonwealth Games back in 1990.

He was 23 at the time, and although he competed in the 1m, 3m and 10m events, he didn’t take home a medal at the games in Auckland, New Zealand.

Although Jason never realised his Olympic dream – no, he wasn’t quite Tom Daley – which he’s admitted in the past is still ‘a bit of a sore point’, with both Seoul 1988 and Barcelona 1992 either side of his Commonwealth year.

He previously 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.’

Things could have turned out very differently (Picture: BBC)

Instead, he became an action movie hero (Picture: Imaginechina/REX)

That seems pretty humble for someone who still represented his country at a major games, regardless of anything else.

Despite him having some level of success – and talking about it before – plenty of people have only just found out about his previous athletic endeavours.

One fan tweeted: ‘Why am I just finding out Jason Statham was a professional diver and even represented Team GB in the commonwealth games?! (sic)’

Another added: ‘I was today years old when I found out Jason Statham was quite a diver.’

And a different fan wrote: ‘Jason Statham? Commonwealth Games?? Diving??? HAIR??????? (sic)’

That’s right – he wasn’t always bald either. The more you know.

More: Jason Statham

After the games, Statham moved into modelling and appeared on runways for the likes of Tommy Hilfiger, French Connection and Levi’s.

From there, he got his movie break and became a huge star in action blockbusters, as well as Guy Richie classics Snatch and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrells.

All’s well that ends well…

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