Freediving in mainstream press

[trux]

An article about Tom Sietas appeared today on Washington Post's website (not sure if it was published in the actual newspaper too). Relatively long (3 pages), but of course it does not bring much of interesting information for those who already know freediving. It may be worth of reading anyway, though:

Underwater, He's an Extreme Success - washingtonpost.com

 

[Jouskari]

Does freediving actually attract more than 10000 competitors worldwide? I´ve figured that it would be more like half of that or even less.

It would have been good if the article had mentioned at some point that breathhold-training is never done without supervision.

 

[trux]

Does freediving actually attract more than 10000 competitors worldwide? I´ve figured that it would be more like half of that or even less.

I think it is possible. Alone in France there may be around 1000-2000 freedivers organized in clubs. Perhaps even more. We have around 50 members in our club each year, and there are many such clubs in France, often with 2-3 times bigger member base. Well, perhaps not all of them participate in competitions, but together with other Med nations, I think the global number may be even a bit higher than 10,000 competitors.

You should not forget that there is not only AIDA, but also CMAS, BIOS, FFESSM and other freediving associations not depending on AIDA. However, already alone in the AIDA Result Register (kindly developed by Simo Kurra), there are almost 2500 names of freedivers who already participated in at least one AIDA competition. And not all competitions are included yet. The CMAS database would be likely even bigger (I guess that alone competitors from Italy, Spain, and France together may double the number of competitors in the AIDA register).

In the APNEA.cz database, there are ~1000 registered freedivers, who passed the knowledge test, hence are rather serious about the sport. 2500 of them attempted to register (but some of them failed the test).

 

[Jouskari]

Ok, didn´t actually take into account CMAS and other similar organizations (my bad). Including them and the ranking systems they have the number starts to feel a bit more realistic. My first reaction to the article was that AIDA doesn´t probably even have 10000 registerd members, let alone 10000 active competitors (even if distributed over a few years). Also, what I´ve noticed among the freedivers I know is that very few actually are really keen on competing. Therefore the line "free diving has exploded in popularity in recent years, attracting an estimated 10,000 competitors to organized events." seemed a little bit to good to be true.

but anyhow... good thing if the sport is growing.

BTW: Freedive Central - all about Freediving, Freedivers and Underwater Competitions has 852 registered freedivers... (perhaps a bit outdated however)

 

[hudasmt]

There should be some sort of database where to find names and category they are in for every certified freedivers right? Otherwise one can just claim he's instructor,2 star or whatever? or worst just make the certificates himself. Is there like a central authentication database for certified freedivers whether AIDA, FIT or Apnea and so on? Forgive me for my ignorance but i still havent had any proper course yet...hehehe because here in UAE, i think there are some plans of having only certified divers are the authorized people who can buy equipment in dive shops...just like liquor here,you cant buy them without license to buy...pretty bogus eyyy

 

[josedesucre]

An article about Tom Sietas appeared today on Washington Post's website (not sure if it was published in the actual newspaper too). Relatively long (3 pages), but of course it does not bring much of interesting information for those who already know freediving. It may be worth of reading anyway, though:

Underwater, He's an Extreme Success - washingtonpost.com

Yes, it was published in the paper version. Not in the sports section but in page A-16 (world news), with the tag of "Worldview/Innovators" over the title. It does refer to free diving as a "nascent" sport, though.

 

[rxcnc2]

Thanks for pointing out this article. I hadn't realized yet that 213m is exactly 700 feet (but of course I should have remembered Herbert's NL). Does it mean that Tom (and possibly Dave) did their DNF records as a kind of round figure?
I was also intrigued by the statement "Sietas said he has developed other breathing patterns as well but is reluctant to divulge his secrets for competitive reasons". It would be good to spy a little on him...

At the end, Tom "threatens" to defend aggressively his O2 record... clearly the interview must have been prior to Genoni's result. I wonder what next... though I am not really interested in that.

I found the title a bit strange, like implying that above water he's a disaster...

 

[Kars]

The last statement was also cool, almost like Tom is inviting David Blain to do a head to head O2 Static, The Big Blue becoming reality?

Great to hear Tom is continuing his pursuit for the human limits.

Love, Courage and Water,

Kars

 

[spaghetti]

The last statement was also cool, almost like Tom is inviting David Blain to do a head to head O2 Static, The Big Blue becoming reality?

Great to hear Tom is continuing his pursuit for the human limits.

Love, Courage and Water,

Kars

Talking of O2 static, Genoni's 18'03" has had some coverage in italian mainstream media last week, as well as his 141mt variable when he did it. Not in the sports section either case, as it's not considered as sport: it's rather considered as "weirdo news", same as Guinnes book stuff.
You won't believe, but in Italy Umberto Pelizzari and Gianluca Genoni are better known as tv entertainers rather than as sport legends (they've both had their own tv shows until recently).