[QazzaQ]

That's incredible that Tom has been shunned from this so-called top event of static apneists! Several competitive disciplines have had such players that have taken the discipline to a whole new level (Bubka, Karelin, Jordan, Kasparov...). The main difference to these disciplines is, that in these cases they have been able to _leverage_ the top-performer to promote the visibility and popularity of the sport. It is only natural that as freediving grows bigger there will be more and more talented persons involved who go past the limits of the "old-timers". What kind of a message does this send to the other promising talents training out there? That it is OK to achieve only mediocre levels before suspicion arises?
Personally I am extremely disappointed to see this kind of an attitude arise once again in freediving. It would seem, that one of the biggest factors limiting the development of this sport is the jealousy of less gifted individuals... Because of this attitude I have not enjoyed the international competitions as much as national or free training, and I have had huge challenges to motivate myself to participate in competitions abroad. And I don't think I am the only one having these problems.

Tom: hopefully this incident does not affect your training motivation!!! Looking forward to see you perform on an even ground against the participants of the Monaco competition...