Sam Still was sitting in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber with Ledley King and comparing metatarsal injuries. “How did you get yours?” the Tottenham Hotspur defender asked. Still removed his mask and produced the conversation stopper to top them all: “I got blown up. You?”

He is still phlegmatic about the past two years. From becoming a world champion in freediving to the vivid memory of the terrorist bomb that almost killed him in Dahab, Egypt, Still's story is one of deadpan courage. “The Egyptian porters were in a panic and I was getting barged around on a trolley,” he said of the aftermath of the bomb in April, 2006. “They trapped my injured foot in the ambulance door. It was all a bit Monty Python.”

It is largely down to his laid-back resilience that Still is standing at all. He was eight metres from the epicentre of the blast and his friend lost her foot. His right foot was badly deformed, he had shrapnel in his neck and leg and he was bleeding badly. Yet now, almost two years to the day since the explosion, he plans to run the London Marathon, before making an emotional return to Egypt to fulfil a promise and bury his demons.

“My surgeon deals with a lot of footballers and the metatarsal has been the thing that sidelined Wayne Rooney and David Beckham,” Still said. “He was used to sportsmen and their tiny cracks and I had a foot that looked like it was a CGI image. I think my recovery confounded him and I remember the confusion on his face when I walked without crutches. I'm not really into football, but I am amazed by the media coverage they get. We were blown up and were big news for a few days.”

Still was on the verge of making a career from freediving in 2006. The sport remains on the fringes of the margins, but has gained publicity via the exploits of Tanya Streeter, the world champion-cum-glamour girl. There are various disciplines, but all involve holding your breath underwater and pushing the body to the limits. Still became world champion in the static apnea in 2005 which comprised lying face down in the water for a staggering 8min 19sec.

The dangers are obvious and the London Marathon will mark the first anniversary of the death of Loic Leferme, whose line got tangled as he tried to resurface after a 171m dive. “I'd dived with him and he was very safe,” Still said. “But these things happen. The main limit is uncontrollable because it's the human aspect.”

After finishing university Still spent six months in India where he learnt yoga and relaxation techniques that benefited his diving. He also learnt how to cope with pain by focusing on the hurt area and analysing it in a practical way. That would prove invaluable when his life was turned upside down on April 24, 2006.

Still had been diving and was talking to friends in a restaurant when the blast happened. “I saw the Chinese lanterns blown against the ceiling and it felt like a sudden gust of wind. The next thing I knew I was looking at a man lying on the floor and he had fear etched on his face,” he said. “I felt OK and didn't feel any pain, but then I looked at my leg and I felt a warm wetness at the back of my head. I searched for the hole with my finger and plugged it. It was surreal.”

He was transported to Shark-El-Sheik, where they knew about bombs, and then flown to Cairo. It was a painful recovery. He walked with a “sucking-type thing” attached to his foot, loose flesh was cut away and there were skin grafts. “One of the worst things was survivor guilt,” he said. “Ultimately, I'm fine, but my friend lost her foot.”

His plans changed, too. He took a job with an investment bank and has not dived seriously since. The marathon will be his first and he wants to raise money and publicity for the British Red Cross and highlight the paucity of funds available for victims of terrorism. “I'm not a runner and I just want to finish the marathon,” he said. But for the bomb he might still be diving for a living, but if he sounds remarkably accepting of the cards dealt him, that may be because it is a minor miracle that his feet are on the ground at all.

www.justgiving.com/samstill