A former Naval Academy water-polo star amazingly survived a suicide leap of 212 feet off the George Washington Bridge into the 55-degree waters of the Hudson yesterday — then swam to New Jersey after suddenly finding that he still had the will to live.

Adrian Rawn, 28, took the plunge without so much as a pause after abruptly stopping his car on the span’s lower level at about 11:30 a.m., sources said.

He was pulled from the freezing water by Fort Lee church deacon Gi Yeon Rheem, who had been walking along the base of the Palisades when she spotted someone clutching a rock about a quarter-mile to the north, sources said.

“He started shivering,” Rheem, 63, told The Post, adding that the impact had torn off Rawn’s pants and shredded his underwear.

“He got up and walked into the sunshine,” she said. “I gave him my scarf, and he said, ‘Thank you.’ ”

Rawn was listed in serious condition last night at Hackensack University Medical Center.

But that he survived at all came as no surprise to Mike Schofield, his Naval Academy water-polo coach of four years.

“If anybody could do that and swim to shore, that would be Adrian,” Schofield said. “I love the guy. I think very, very highly of him, and my prayers are with him. I hope he’s OK.”

Rawn led Schofield’s team to within a game of the 2000 national championship and won a Pan-Am Games gold medal that year as a member of the 21-and-under national team. He later became an assistant coach at Maryland and Johns Hopkins universities.

His death-defying leap, one of just a handful on record for the bridge, occurred one day after he was arrested and charged with drunkenly beating up a Northampton, Mass., cabby in a fare dispute.

Authorities said Rawn was pepper-sprayed by cops while allegedly resisting arrest, arraigned in a Northampton court Thursday morning and released.