One of the most famous representatives of extreme sports, a superstar of world freediving, Russian Natalia Molchanova near the Spanish island of Formentera.
As reported in a press release from the Russian Freediving Federation, on August 2 Molchanova dived without fins, outside the framework of competitions or training. The bottom depth in the dive area varied from 35 to 65 meters. The athlete performed a dive to a depth of 30-40 meters, which was not particularly challenging task for the world record holder. However, something went wrong during the dive. After some time, Molchanova appeared on the surface, but about 60 meters from the calculated ascent point. The belayers accompanying the athlete rushed to help, but Natalya disappeared under the water again.
A large-scale search has been launched in the area of the disappearance, involving local rescuers and the Spanish coast guard. However, according to experts, there is practically no chance of a favorable outcome. Son of Natalia Molchanova, freediver Alexey Molchanov, on the evening of August 4, told reporters that there was no hope of finding her alive.
The Russian woman's career began at the age of 40
Natalya Molchanova is a unique athlete, who simply has no equal in freediving (scuba diving while holding her breath). It is all the more surprising that she was known much better outside of Russia than in her native country. Leading world media outlets, such as the American New York Times, devoted materials to the disappearance of Molchanova.
In her youth, Natalya Molchanova was a promising athlete, who by the age of 20 became a master of sports in speed sports. scuba diving. However, then Natalya decided to leave the sport, devoting herself to her family.
The return took place 20 years later, when most athletes finish their performances and switch to coaching work. 40-year-old Molchanova tried herself in freediving and, as she later said, she “just liked it.”
The Russian woman was a generalist in freediving, that is, she performed equally successfully in almost all of its disciplines, which is rare. She currently holds 7 of the 8 women's world records in various freediving disciplines.
Record holder and mother of a record holder
Natalya Molchanova became the first woman in the world who, while holding her breath with a constant weight, was able to dive to a depth of over 100 meters, reaching a mark of 101 meters. She also holds the record in the discipline “constant weight, without fins” - 71 meters.
At the 2013 World Freediving Championships, Molchanova set a world record for static breath-holding - 9 minutes and 2 seconds. A year later, at the World Team Championships, the Russian woman broke the record in the “apnea in dynamics” discipline, covering a distance of 237 meters while holding her breath.
Natalia's son, Alexey, followed in his mother's footsteps. In June 2012, he set a world record in the fin diving discipline, reaching 125 meters. On the same day, at the same competition, Natalya Molchanova set her new world record. Most likely, this is the only such case in the history of world sports, when a son and mother almost simultaneously became world record holders.
Among the achievements of Natalia and Alexey Molchanov is their joint crossing of the famous Blue Hole underwater arch located in the Red Sea. The number of people who have overcome the arch in one breath is measured in units, and Natalya Molchanova became the first woman to succeed.
Alexey and Natalya Molchanov. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org / CC BY-SA 3.0/Divot
“I understand how dangerous this is.”
Natalya Molchanova has academic degree candidate of pedagogical sciences, is the author of many scientific articles and textbooks on freediving. Natalya was the founder and president of the Russian Freediving Federation.At the 2015 World Freediving Championships, which took place in Belgrade, Natalya Mochanova, at 53 years old, won two gold medals.
Natalya, who combined her sports career with her work as an instructor, has always been against unjustified risk. She admitted that she was against her son freediving. “I just understand how dangerous it is,” she explained. Nevertheless, Alexey Molchanov also broke into the world elite of this extreme sport.
“Perhaps she will remain at sea forever.”
In an interview published on the website of the Russian Freediving Federation in May 2015, Natalya Molchanova said: “There is motivation, diving is fun, and for now I continue to practice. Most likely, I will finish it soon, but I don’t know when yet. And I will finish not because my reserves will be exhausted, but because my priorities will change, perhaps towards writing a textbook.”
There are several versions of what happened during the August 2 dive. In the area where it took place, there may be pronounced deep currents, due to which the athlete was carried to the side. As a result, all energy was expended on rising to the surface, where Molchanova could lose consciousness. In such cases, belayers come to the rescue, but due to the fact that the ascent occurred several tens of meters from the calculated point, they simply did not have time to help the athlete.
There is a possibility that Natalya Molchanova’s body will not be discovered. She made the dive in a special low-buoyancy wetsuit, which facilitates descent to great depths. “Perhaps she will remain at sea forever,” Alexey Molchanov reports to the New York Times. “I think she would have liked it herself.”
What a wonderful second day of August it turned out to be! A blindingly bright sun was shining high in the sky, trying to reach with its rays both the sailors in the port of La Savina and those who were resting on this Sunday from the work week on Poniente beach, and the sleeping regulars of the nightclubs of the island of discos - Ibiza. She broke away from the group to practice diving to a depth of 30-40 meters while holding her breath. The fact that more than five minutes had passed and she had not yet surfaced was not surprising. After all, Natalya Molchanova is not an ordinary diver, but a multiple world champion who can stay underwater almost twice as long without harm. But time passed treacherously quickly, and she still did not show up. The water element, which Natalya loved so much, took her for itself. Forever.
“The element does not need to be conquered - you need to interact with it”
Natalya started freediving late. She started out as a swimmer, but competed without much success. Fighting her opponents gave her much less pleasure than wrestling
with the elements. Although struggle is the wrong word. Molchanova herself said that one should not fight the elements, but interact. She was able to interact with water like no one else in the world.
Her results speak for themselves - 22 victories at the world freediving championships, 41 world records. Many of her achievements will not soon be blocked. Over the course of 13 years of a long career, she has done more than was thought possible. It was as if the elements themselves understood that Natalya didn’t have much to do and helped her achieve success. She conquered the world with records and men with her dazzling smile, long before freediving appeared in her life.
Unique record
She was in love with the sea, and remained in it. I think she would like this option.
She was unique - people tried to copy her diving technique into its components. Nothing worked, all her followers could not get closer to Molchanova’s records and understand where this fragile woman came from so much strength. Nine minutes and two seconds without air is also a record. No, not among Russian women - among all the people on the planet. She showed this result in Belgrade at the World Championships. The time shown in the men's competition was several seconds less.
No one has done as much for the development of freediving as Natalia Molchanova. Several films were made about her, which made it possible to understand the technology of this sport, strange to most and so appealing to her. She taught at the Institute of Physical Education, telling students about extreme sports. She has written scientific articles and methodological literature on safety precautions and training in breath-hold diving. Who knows how many lives she saved by being able to explain to beginners the basics and secrets of the craft? But she couldn’t save her own.
Sport is a cruel thing
Natalya Molchanova has two children - her son Alexey inherited from his mother a love of water and a talent as a freediver. Together they conquered the famous Blue Hole Arch in the Red Sea, also known as the Divers' Graveyard. Once there was a memorial there in honor of the dead divers, but when their number exceeded several dozen, they stopped putting up signs with their names so as not to scare away tourists. Natalya and Alexey crossed the Arch in one breath without aids, becoming one of only nine people who managed to do this. Molchanova is still the only woman in the world who has been able to do this.
She did not die - she went into an indefinite dive, divers say. Sport is a cruel thing extreme sport- doubly cruel.
Therefore, the news of the death of the greatest champion came as a shock to everyone. The ill-fated undercurrent that took Natalya with it could not have been foreseen. She did not die - she went into an indefinite dive, divers say. But the obvious conclusion “don’t go for a walk, children, in Africa” will be written some other time. Sport is a cruel thing, extreme sports are doubly cruel. Everyone knows and Maria Komissarova. Or you can risk your entire career at a speed of over 300 km/h, and get a fatal blow to your head on a rock while skiing, like Michael Schumacher. So let's just remember the one that revolutionized the idea of human capabilities. And better than Alexey Molchanov, it is probably impossible to say about his mother: “She was in love with the sea, and remained in it. I think she would like this option.”
The second of August... The weather was dazzling - sea air, sun, calm... Natalya decided to practice breath-hold diving at a depth of 30-40 meters. More than 5 minutes passed, and she was still not visible on the surface. This didn’t even bother anyone, since her record for staying under water was almost twice as long.
Time treacherously quickly crossed all possible safe boundaries, but Natalya never appeared on the surface. Only then did a shocking thought pierce everyone - she would remain in the sea forever! Forever…
“The element cannot be conquered, it is created for interaction”
Natalya started her freediver journey quite late - at the age of 40. Her start in the sport was as a swimmer - in her 20s she received the title of Master of Sports in speed diving in various ways. Competitions did not give her much pleasure - she swam for the sake of swimming, and not for the sake of fighting and winning. She “felt” the water element like no one else in this world. She herself said that there is no point in fighting the sea and cannot be conquered, you can only interact with it.
After 20 years sports life training was replaced by family and raising children. However, the water relentlessly pulled her towards itself, so after a 20-year break, Molchanova returned to scuba diving in the freediving style (with independent breath-holding without any oxygen-containing devices). Starting a new stage of my sports career at the age of 40, in 13 years she had reached the peak of her achievements and was in perfect athletic shape, easily giving a head start to her young rivals. During this time, she achieved so much that in theory seemed absolutely impossible.
But this is not all of Natalia’s activities. She:
She was the president of the freedivers federation;
She had a candidate's degree in pedagogical sciences,
She was an associate professor at the Department of Methods and Theory of Applied Sports and Activities in Extreme Conditions at RGUFKSiT (University of Physical Education, Sports and Tourism in the Russian Federation),
Wrote a doctoral dissertation
Supervised freediving classes at the university pool;
She compiled and published articles and various methodological literature on breath-hold diving and techniques;
Under her consultations, several films about freediving technologies were shot to enable the uninitiated to understand the essence of this, it seems, strange looking sports.
The results of her active work speak for themselves: she set 41 world records and received 23 victories at world freediving championships.
The subtleties of freediving through the eyes of a female freediver
Freediving, according to Natalya herself, is a really risky sport, full of emergency situations, but the main thing is to learn to solve these situations. One of the main dangers in freediving is blackout, when there is a loss of consciousness due to a decrease in oxygen levels in the brain. This phenomenon is observed precisely at the moment of surfacing (this does not happen at depth) and you need to know the subtleties of behavior in this case. As a rule, for backup, an accompanying person meets you in the last 20 meters and controls the rest of the ascent.
Never panic! To neutralize the impending panic, a technique of deconcentrating attention is used, thanks to which the attitude towards the situation is always leveled, and actions are carried out in accordance with the rules of one’s own salvation. Moreover, it is always advisable to have a competent person nearby as a backup.
Natalya was always sure that freediving does not cause the slightest harm to the body. It’s one thing when the body experiences a regular lack of oxygen due to some pathological conditions, and another thing when a healthy and trained body does not react with failures from one-time hypoxic loads.
By the way, a freediving suit is significantly different from a swimming suit for an ordinary diver. The suit fits so tightly to the body that it can only be tightened with hair conditioner or thick shampoo. And freediving goggles must be equipped with pressure adjustment.
Unique record
Natalya was in love with the sea. She could not imagine herself without this raging element and her dives. It was not for nothing that Natalia was called a unique female freediver. They tried to reproduce her diving technique, breaking it down into its component parts in theory. Not a single person attempting this has come even remotely close to her records. Her first world dive record was 9 minutes and 2 seconds while holding her breath. It was the world championship in Belgrade. Even men then showed results that were several seconds shorter.
There are 8 freediving disciplines in total, in 7 of which Natalia has world records:
3 disciplines in pools: static breath holding, diving without fins and with fins;
3 disciplines at depth: on a rope in your hands, with fins and without fins;
2 competitive disciplines: wake dive and ascent on your own, as well as wake dive and ascent (No Limits).
Natalya has records in all disciplines except No Limits, and this is because she did not take part in it. The maximum depth to which she descended with a trace was 127 m in 3 minutes.
Another achievement of Natalia was her joint effort with her son (Alexey Molchanov) to overcome the Blue Hole in the Red Sea - the most famous underwater arch, referred to among divers as the “Divers’ Cemetery.” Only nine people in the world have overcome this arch, and Natalia became one of them, and the only woman. This was done in a single breath, without using any devices for this.
The world of sports is a cruel thing
The world is very cruel, the world of extreme sports is several times tougher. This is not only an exciting delight and adrenaline satisfaction for athletes, it is also always a risk of dangers, which are almost impossible to fully foresee. This is what happened to Natalya - no one could predict that same ill-fated deep-sea current that carried away a world-famous freediver.
As her son Alexey said in an interview: “She was raving about the sea, she stayed with him... forever...”, and divers still say that she did not die, but went into an indefinite dive...
On Sunday the President Russian Federation freediving and holder of more than 40 world records Natalia Molchanova vacationed on a rented yacht near the island Formentera not far from Ibiza.
She and her friends planned to dive to a depth of 35 meters - not for a record, just for fun.
Molchanova donned her favorite purple wetsuit, just 1.5 millimeters thick with a reduced buoyancy coefficient, designed specifically for divers like her: those who want to dive as deep as possible in one go. The wetsuit was from the brand's line Molchanova, which Natalya launched together with her son Alexey, also a successful freediver.
The weather whispered: a clear sky overhead, a light breeze over the surface of a calm Balearic Sea. Molchanova attached a neck weight weighing no more than a kilogram, which was supposed to help her sink to the bottom, then jumped into the water and began to prepare.
Its task was to reduce heart rate to use oxygen more economically underwater.
To relax, Natalya took a short two-second breath and then exhaled twice as slowly and deeply. This breath of air was probably her last.
She began diving to a depth that was not too deep for herself, but never emerged. After two days of fruitless searches, her son Alexei told reporters that Natalya would most likely not be found alive.
“She was a freediving superstar and we thought nothing could happen to her,” said Kimmo Latinen, President of the international freedivers association AIDA. “Nothing could happen to her, but you know, we are playing with the ocean, and when you play with the ocean, you know who is stronger in this game.”
53-year-old Natalya Molchanova set another record only a few months ago, diving to a depth of 71 meters without using fins. It was in Dahab in May. Then she dived along a rope that measured the depth and, if necessary, could act as a safety rope and pull out the freediver. On August 2, in Ibiza, Natalia did not have any insurance.
Was it carried away by the current? Or did she lose consciousness? Maybe she met a shark? Did you hit your head on something?
The water temperature at the dive site is plus 26 degrees Celsius. But the so-called thermocline layer at a depth of 21 meters can be 10-15 degrees colder. Such a temperature difference can be detrimental to a diver.
When the athlete did not swim, her fellow divers first went out to search for her. Then they called for help. Flotilla of private boats and local coast guard with helicopter support Helimar 213 searched the sea until dark. The search resumed on Monday morning. On Tuesday, a deep-sea robot capable of diving to a depth of 500 meters was connected to the operation.
“Freediving is not just a sport, it is a way to understand who we are. When you go down, if you don’t think, you can feel your integrity. You are alone with the world. When you start thinking, you lose integrity. On the surface, thinking is natural; there we are oversaturated with information. We need a reboot. Freediving helps with this,” said Natalya Molchanova in an interview last year.
We may never know the details of the last dive of the world's best freediver.
“It looks like she will stay at sea. I think she would like it,” said Natalia Molchanova’s son Alexey on Tuesday evening.
Moscow, August 5. On Sunday, August 2, it became known that the absolute world champion in freediving, Russian Natalya Molchanova, was off the coast of the Spanish island of Formentera during another dive. A three-day search has so far yielded no results; the chances of rescue, according to experts, are extremely low.
It so happened that exactly a month before the tragic incident in Spain, the MIR 24 portal spoke with a 53-year-old athlete. There is no point in looking for some “omens” in this interview - they are not here, Natalya simply and frankly told us about her life. Today we present this text in full:
“A fantastic woman” is the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the story of Natalia Molchanova, an athlete who won 25 gold medals at the world championships and set more than 40 world records. By the age of 20, Natalya became a master of sports in high-speed diving, and then left training to start raising children. But the waters did not let up, and two decades later Molchanova returned to the sport to achieve amazing results. She began practicing breath-hold scuba diving at the age of 40 and, 13 years later, seems to be at the peak of her form, not losing the pedestal to her younger competitors.
And that’s not all - Natalya has a Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences degree and is an associate professor at the Department of Theory and Methodology of Applied Sports and Extreme Activities at RGUFKSiT (Russian State University physical culture, sports and tourism). He is writing a doctoral dissertation, teaching freediving classes in a university pool - it’s simply amazing where this person gets so much energy. MIR 24 spoke with a unique athlete about the dangers of freediving, diving with sharks and how to always stay in shape.
The office where Natalya Molchanova teaches is a small room without desks, filled with chairs and stands with awards. After the interview, the lesson begins, first theory, then practice in the pool. The topic of the lesson is “Equipment. System of partnership and safety when diving.” We talk with the always busy athlete before class.
How do you manage to look so good? Do you have any secrets for maintaining beauty or does water have such a beneficial effect?
- There are no secrets. I stick to the rules healthy eating as everyone knows, I eat meat very rarely. I don’t do anything special because I’m very busy with competitions and scientific activities. I'm writing my doctoral thesis and I'm in a hurry to finish it because my advisor is about to leave the university. I have absolutely no time to take care of myself.
It is known that you started freediving at the age of 40, and before that were you interested in any sport?
- Of course, I studied first figure skating, and then from 3rd grade until graduation - swimming. At the institute I took up high-speed view scuba diving, by the age of 20 she swam to master of sports. Then there was a break of 20 years, dedicated to family, and then she returned. I remember diving for the first time when I was five years old. I remember the feeling when the water covers me, and such a galactic spiral appears that haunts me all my life. At that time I didn’t know that the structure of the galaxy was spiral-shaped, but I had the feeling of a spiral that was sucking me in.
In an interview with RT last year, you said that you do not consider freediving a sport. Do I understand correctly that for you this is rather a psychological and spiritual practice?
– I would not use the words “spiritual practice”; they are more characteristic of the terminology of yogis, and I do not consider myself in this camp. I live an ordinary life, engage in ordinary secular teaching activities and do not think about any spiritual life. But from my experience I know that freediving slightly changes your outlook on life. Many of my students also talk about the impact of diving on personality. Just being at depth allows you to feel some kind of interaction with the world, space, regardless of specific events and people... To feel something common in this field in which we live.
Do you consider yourself to be of any religion?
- No. This is not important, I just see that everything is one. Therefore, it makes no sense to divide on religious grounds. I believe in something primordial that gave impetus to the development of life.
There are approximately equal numbers of men and women in the group. These people are on average about 30 years old, athletic, fit and, apparently, self-confident.
In what ways does this experience change a person?
– He becomes more tolerant of the world, kinder, less tense. Freediving makes people relax because relaxation is necessary if you want to dive deep. Through this state comes a calm outlook on life. A person perceives it less as a danger, he develops a harmonious relationship with the world.
Stig Severinson is a freediver from Denmark. The only one in the world who could hold his breath for 22 minutes. He has a Doctor of Science degree in medicine and a master's degree in biology. He set his 22-minute record while swimming in a pool with sharks.
Is there a type of person who, due to their nature, cannot freedive?
– I don’t think that anyone, due to their psychological make-up, cannot master diving. Some people don’t want to, because it’s not their element. For example, my daughter doesn’t really like water, she likes dancing - that’s her business. I observed high-class freedivers, completely different in character, including very eccentric ones. Stig Severinson cannot live a minute without communicating, he constantly needs to share and talk with someone - he is a very charismatic person. At the World Championships he continues to talk two minutes before the start. I tell him – Stig, you have a start now, go, for God’s sake, get ready. At the same time, he is a world champion. Therefore, I think that any person who loves water, and this is the first condition, can learn to dive.
It is difficult to train high-class athletes; they are often tense. They are used to going towards a goal, strictly following it, and teaching them to stop paying attention to meters, seconds and just move as they go is not easy. But little by little it comes. Often professional swimmers start freediving, but for some reason more guys come from martial arts. There are many of these among elite freedivers.
Are you by nature more prone to solitude or do you also need constant communication?
– I like communication, I work pedagogical activity, and the teacher must be able to understand people. At the same time, I am self-sufficient, I happily sit alone and write something. I like working with words and computers. Communication every day is not necessary for me; work brings pleasure. Moreover, the work is not only scientific, for example, a report with last Championship I published the world in poetry. I started writing since I started freediving; I had a desire to express something. Creativity needs a reason.
Natalya talks about the features of a freediver's equipment. The suit is significantly different from just a diving suit; it must fit so tightly to the body that you need to tighten it with shampoo or hair conditioner. Glasses must have pressure adjustment.
You demonstrate amazing success in freediving, and every year the achievements are more and more serious. Have you mastered all the disciplines?
– I have world records in seven out of eight disciplines. We have three disciplines in the pool: diving with fins, without fins and static breath holding. There are also three depths: diving with fins, without fins and along a rope with your hands. And there are two more non-competitive disciplines. One is a dive with variable weight, that is, a descent with a trace (a special cart), and an ascent on your own (either with fins, or along a cable in your hands - it depends), that’s where I have a record. The second is the so-called No Limits, when an athlete descends and ascends with a trace, I did not participate in this. The maximum depth to which I descended with the trail was 127 meters, which took three minutes. And my world record for static breath holding is nine minutes.
Freediving is an extreme sport, have you personally encountered dangers?
In 2012, the “deepest man on Earth,” Austrian pilot Herbert Nitzsch attempted to dive to 224 meters. Due to a faulty track, Nietzsch suffered a blackout, which led to numerous mini-strokes. Subsequently, the freediver underwent a long rehabilitation.
– Freediving is associated with a certain risk to health and life, and emergency situations sometimes arise. The very first such incident happened to me in 2006. I sank with the trail, and had to climb up on my own. The depth of 90 meters was very deep for me at that time. And when I opened the cylinder to fill the air bag with air, the hose that leads into this bag fell out. I had glasses filled with water and couldn’t see what was going on. She opened the bottle, closed it, then figured it out and inserted the hose by feel. But I stayed at the depths for a long time, then it was a serious test for me. The consequences were felt for three months - there was a slight disruption of the cerebellum, a slight lack of coordination of movements. We came to Burdenko and did a tomography. They said, oh, go to the hospital immediately. But I went on vacation to Croatia, I didn’t dive - I just rested and gradually recovered. Three months later it was all over and we won Team Championship peace. I was the only one with such a serious injury.
The main danger in freediving is blackout, loss of consciousness associated with a decrease in oxygen content in the brain. It comes suddenly when emerging from the depths. Therefore, the belayer must be at the last 20 meters of the ascent; he meets the diver and accompanies him to the surface. And in the depths, a state of hypoxia does not arise.
How not to panic when you feel that you have a serious problem at great depth?
– In order not to fall into a state of panic and not to perform actions that are incorrect from the point of view of saving life, we use the technique of deconcentration of attention, which allows us to calmly treat the situation that has arisen and act correctly. In addition, you should always dive with a competent belayer, a person who knows the signs of loss of consciousness and can correctly assess the situation and bring you to the surface in time. Knows how to do it.
After a two-hour lecture with jokes and numerous questions, warm-up and exercise in the pool. The warm-up is led by Natalya’s son, professional freediver Alexey Molchanov, and the mother and son conduct the lesson as a couple.
Earlier in the interview, you said that a shark and other sea creatures will not attack a person in a wetsuit. Why are you so sure?
– We swam with sharks, two-meter gray and hammerheads. You must treat the shark with indifference, you should not be afraid, otherwise the animal may react, as is the case with dogs. There are many videos of freedivers diving among sharks and nothing happens. It is also important not to have shiny objects with you, so as not to provoke an attack, because a shark may mistake something shiny for fish scales. It is necessary to calculate the level of risk in advance.
What do you think about the fairly common opinion about the dangers of freediving?
– When they talk about harm, this is most likely an incompetent opinion based on speculation that hypoxic load is harmful to the body. We say that yes, it is undoubtedly harmful - if it is a pathological process. If the body is sick, then such a load can serve trigger for the development of many diseases. But we are talking about hypoxia in freediving, as stress hypoxia, which occurs during any activity high power. If the work power is high, there will always be oxygen debt. At the finish line, people always have shortness of breath, that is, they already have a hypoxic state. It’s the same in freediving: an oxygen debt also arises, and when it is eliminated, the body’s condition returns to normal. And since the body is healthy, there are no negative consequences one-time load does not have. In the long term, the body even undergoes an adaptive response that allows it to withstand other extreme or stressful environmental factors, such as cold and heat. Therefore, hypoxic load, if it corresponds to adequate human capabilities, is absolutely safe.
The diving pool is six meters deep.
The data that the four-minute mark is critical for the brain is only true if its blood supply is interrupted. And if you hold your breath, the blood supply is not interrupted, the blood is simply depleted of oxygen - these are different things. People who experienced a blackout, if, of course, the insurer was nearby, do not lose anything intellectually. When diving, both the heart muscle and blood vessels are trained. During breath holding, vasoconstriction occurs in the periphery and blood flow is redistributed from the periphery to the center. During the end of holding your breath, the peripheral vessels are relaxed - and this is what gymnastics is all about, that is, prevention cardiovascular diseases. But if you already have diseases, then this is a limitation for freediving.
Blue Hole, or Blue Hole, is located in the Red Sea in Egypt, near Dahab. This is a vertical underwater cave 130 meters deep, in the area of 50 meters it connects with the sea, and the corals form a kind of arch. It is considered one of the most dangerous places on Earth.
How do you currently assess the development of freediving in the world?
– Freediving has been actively developing since the beginning of the World Championships, that is, since 1996. Now every year the championship attracts more than 100 people, and a lot of research is carried out. Freediving is very popular, this can be seen even in the example of diving and freediving in the Blue Hole - today there are more freedivers than divers. I really like to train there, because the great depth begins already 20 meters from the shore. It’s convenient - you don’t have to hire a boat, so you don’t spend extra money.
Are young children taught to freedive?
– At RGUFK there is children's freediving; children are accepted from 5-6 years of age. Sometimes they even take those who don’t know how to swim and teach them how to swim first. Classes are held in a playful way, and, as we have noticed, many children enjoy diving more than swimming. When children are given the task of swimming, they become bored, begin to grumble, and their faces become dissatisfied. As soon as they start diving, there is joy and a completely different emotional state. Of course, we are not talking about depth. They need to dive to the bottom of the “paddling pool” for toys, dive through a hoop, after two meters through another hoop, and so on. I personally taught my children to swim from the age of one, then it was not as common as it is now. At two years old, they swam like a dog without armlets.
Natalia Molchanova's son Alexey is also an outstanding freediver, multiple champion world and Russia. For the first time among Russian athletes he sank to a depth of more than 100 meters while holding his breath.
What sporting goals are you setting for yourself now?
– This year, for my birthday, I dived into the Blue Hole with variable weight: down with additional weight, then left the weight, swam 25 meters through an arch at a depth of 60 meters, then rose up breaststroke without fins. I don’t know how much my health will allow, but maybe someday I will dive down with a breaststroke, without weight, and rise up with a breaststroke. I also want to go to Mexico and dive in cenotes.
Breath-hold diving has been known to mankind for several thousand years; pearls and sea sponges were once obtained in this way. This art was mastered in Ancient Greece and in Ancient Rome, as well as residents of some tropical islands. This topic is touched upon, for example, by Ivan Efremov in the novel “Thais of Athens” - the Greek hetaera perfectly dived into the depths of the sea. Diving and freediving began to take shape as sports in the mid-20th century; scuba diving was popularized by Jacques-Yves Cousteau's invention of scuba gear. Since then, there has been a lot of talk about the benefits and harms of freediving, but there is still very little research into the changes that occur in a diver’s body at depth.
Interviewed by Maria Al-Salkhani
