At the first time seeing athletes hanging on the line after hundreds of metres of DYN, I couldn't believe in my eyes. And last year at Individual AIDA Pool World Championships Belgrade 2013 I saw no one is allowed to use lanes with wall, maybe to be fair and to increase the level of "challenge"!??? But in the safety viewpoint, doing balancing on a rope after max performances, when the body has just endured an extreme hypoxic state and all the muscles are needing time and relaxation for recovery, is so dangerous for the athlete and that "challenge" has no concern with freediving performance. I don't think putting people in dangerous zone and require them to be "safe and clean" is anyway athletic at all!!! Aside from the AIDA's "strict" surface protocol (and unsafe to me), this kind of acrobatic performance is completely ridiculous to me!!!
It seems that AIDA is more and more challenging athletes with post-dive procedures. To me, I definitely cannot fulfill AIDA's requirement to be approved, simply because I would have SAMBA EVERY TIME attempting performance dive IF I did NOT have enough time and stable relaxation (by holding a firm support, or simply floating on the surface when no firm things available) for recovery. BUT as long as I have enough time and relaxation, there's been no samba no matter how hard I tried. I know the "problem" is in inside my body, I was born to have low blood pressure and had got some blackouts on land before knowing freediving. However since practising freediving I've known my body better, my cardio-vascular system better, and I've known how to deal with that problem using hook breathing, which had come to me naturally before I knew its name "hook". My hooks are typically longer than other "normal" ones, at least 1 second and usually from 2 up to 5 seconds after my performance dives. In those long hooks I clearly see the waves of relief & refresh from my lung/heart spreading out to my extremities.
Concerning the AIDA's surface protocol, I like what Sebastian Naslund wrote:
Sincerely.
It seems that AIDA is more and more challenging athletes with post-dive procedures. To me, I definitely cannot fulfill AIDA's requirement to be approved, simply because I would have SAMBA EVERY TIME attempting performance dive IF I did NOT have enough time and stable relaxation (by holding a firm support, or simply floating on the surface when no firm things available) for recovery. BUT as long as I have enough time and relaxation, there's been no samba no matter how hard I tried. I know the "problem" is in inside my body, I was born to have low blood pressure and had got some blackouts on land before knowing freediving. However since practising freediving I've known my body better, my cardio-vascular system better, and I've known how to deal with that problem using hook breathing, which had come to me naturally before I knew its name "hook". My hooks are typically longer than other "normal" ones, at least 1 second and usually from 2 up to 5 seconds after my performance dives. In those long hooks I clearly see the waves of relief & refresh from my lung/heart spreading out to my extremities.
Concerning the AIDA's surface protocol, I like what Sebastian Naslund wrote:
So the big question is…
Do we want athletes pushing it to the limit, fighting with the SP at the end. Adding that kind of drama that can be found in other sports: will he make it or not!? Look at the way he is fighting to regain control.
Audience and media are one unit, they are linked. Will the audience like the PBOMM fighting? It is easy to say that a clear majority does. So does media. They want drama. A few will turn their faces and shy away from this gladiator spectacle, but most will stay and watch with awe.
If Aida chooses this way, freediving will still be portrayed as one of the most dangerous sports in the world. Which will feel odd for the athletes, since they all know it is one of the safest sports in the world. And still, while media might want the Gladiator angle, does the freedivers themselves want this?
Do we want athletes pushing it to the limit, fighting with the SP at the end. Adding that kind of drama that can be found in other sports: will he make it or not!? Look at the way he is fighting to regain control.
Audience and media are one unit, they are linked. Will the audience like the PBOMM fighting? It is easy to say that a clear majority does. So does media. They want drama. A few will turn their faces and shy away from this gladiator spectacle, but most will stay and watch with awe.
If Aida chooses this way, freediving will still be portrayed as one of the most dangerous sports in the world. Which will feel odd for the athletes, since they all know it is one of the safest sports in the world. And still, while media might want the Gladiator angle, does the freedivers themselves want this?
Sincerely.