50-year-old woman bungee jumps 23 times in an hour to break Guinness record

Passionate about "jumping from airplanes and bridges", Linda prepared for the attempt with the help of her coach, Eugene Eloff, who implemented a strict training regime to boost her fitness to peak levels

By: Lifestyle Desk

New Delhi | November 17, 2022 07:00 PM IST

3 min read

Linda Potgieter from South Africa broke the previous record of 19 with 23 jumps in an hour (Source: Guinness World Records.com)

A 50-year-old woman has done the unbelievable — bungee jumped 23 times in an hour to break the Guinness World Record. She did an average of one jump every two and a half minutes.

Linda Potgieter from South Africa broke the previous record of 19, which was set by another South African, Veronica Dean, at the same location — South Africa’s highest bridge, Bloukrans Bridge, 216 m (708 ft) above Bloukrans River — reported Guinness World Records.com.

Linda, who considers bungee jumping a “big confidence booster and a way of overcoming fear”, told the site on the record attempt, “I decided that I had to do something on a regular basis that put fear in front of me.”

Linda Potgieter with her record certificate (Source: Guinness World Records.com)

Passionate about “jumping from airplanes and bridges”, Linda prepared for the attempt with the help of her coach, Eugene Eloff, who implemented a strict training regime to boost her fitness to peak levels.

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Official Guinness World Records adjudicator Sofia Greenacre told the records site, “it was really the epitome of record breaking.” “I’ve never seen anything quite like it and I think this record might have reached its peak now. It’s going to be really, really tricky to see it beaten,” Greenacre said.

How did the record attempt pan out?

According to the site, while it may not seem as a physically demanding sport, bungee jumping non-stop for an hour requires immense core strength and cardiovascular fitness.

Eugene, her trainer, acknowledged that the challenge was “90 per cent in the head and 10 per cent physical”.

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As the one-hour timer began, Linda harnessed up atop Bloukrans Bridge to step off the platform and hurtle towards the river below, arms spread like an eagle. While she completed her tenth jump at the 23-minute mark, a few jumps later, she began to visibly tire owing to the “high altitude and non-stop jumping”. But adrenaline and the will power to break the record kept her going even as she was struggling to stand after matching the previous record.

Thanking the almighty, her family, and her team “who were crucial in quickly pulling her back up to the bridge after each jump”, she expressed, “We can do anything we put our minds to. It was awesome.”

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