More comment...
It is really unfortunate that this matter has robbed attention from both the fact of Martin's impressive performance, as well as more recent events such as the Auckland competition where Dave Mullins and Ant Williams both did dynamics that would have won medals (not to mention WRs) at the world champs.
However this is something that needs to be adressed, as the endorsement of a double standard destroys the integrity of the AIDA governing body
and any dives that you as a freediver have done or intend to do under it.
To demonstrate:
What happens if, in the future, a CNF diver attempts a depth of 84m, takes the tag from the bottom plate and attaches it to their person, only to have it fall off close to the surface on the ascent. With
what courage could AIDA possibly withhold the world record from this athlete, when for Stepanek's dive there were no tags involved from the start to the finish? The answer is they
CANNOT. The athlete would have every right, legal as well as moral, to declare themselves the AIDA world record holder to the media and all and sunder. Whatsmore, judging by current reaction, almost the entire freediving community would unite in considering him the AIDA world record holder. The only place where the athlete would
not be the record holder is on one page of the AIDA website...
Is AIDA brave enough to submit to this kind of negative opinion for the sole purpose of attempting to rectify the mistakes made by their official judges?
The judge education is very strict and good... and all my students know the rules, and how to use them. Remember that even judge can have a bad day and do mistake.
This is not a case of a judge having a bad day or making a mistake. It is a case of no less than 3 AIDA judges being
ignorant of the AIDA rules. How then, can judge education be described as "very strict and good"?
Furthermore, on the 8th or 9th of August the 2 on-site judges both signed a declaration which
explicitly stated that they had witnessed Martin hand them the tag that they had signed prior to attaching it to the bottom plate!! That is not a mistake, but a case of not reading what you are signing!
In April and October of 2006, before my CNF WR attempts I debated with AIDA judges the relevance of tags in a discipline where the means of propulsion are the hands. I was told that tags are a
necessary and important part of record validation. However if an athlete can set a world record without bringing a tag to the surface then it logically follows that
the tag is dispensable. If the tag is dispensible then how can AIDA justify its requirement in future attempts?
I personally believe they cannot and should not, and that any attempt to do so will create severe polemics that will further sully AIDA's reputation.
It was for Martin's benefit (so that he could re-attempt the dive) that I alerted AIDA of the missing tag when I saw the video. It is now for the benefit of AIDA's reputation that I am trying to hold them to a
consistency of judgement. The protest I have sent in suggests two courses of action, and is included below:
I, the undersigned, wish to protest the decision made by the AIDA board on August 13, 2007 to validate the world record attempted by Martin Stepanek in the discipline of CNF on the 8th of August.
I request that AIDA take one of the following course of actions (a) and (b):
a) Martin Stepanek's performance be disqualified due to the error made by himself and 2 other on-site AIDA judges to not use a tag in the record attempt, bearing in mind that this is an error which does impact directly on the validity of Stepanek's performance by imparting clear and significant advantages to the same, in particular:
i) eliminating mechanical actions associated with finding and removing the tag from the bottom plate and attaching the tag to the person
ii) eliminating any psychological stress associated with retrieving the tag and performing these mechanical actions at depth
iii) enabling the athlete to pull on the ascent line with both hands, thereby expediting the ascent
iv) shortening the dive time by means of (i) and (iii)
b) use this attempt as a precedent to retract the rule relating to the necessity of a tag for WR attempts, and to validate this performance and all future attempts in CNF by use of video footage of the athlete touching the bottom plate at the target depth as well as depth registered by the official depth gauge worn on the athlete's wrist.
I am personally hoping that they will choose option(b). That way Martin's performance is valid and I have the opportunity to attempt it under the same conditions as he did.
Should anyone want to put their voice to this protest you can cut and paste (as well as edit and supplement as you see fit) the above text in an e-mail to
Discipline_AIDA@yahoogroups.com
Now back to training,
William Trubridge.
