Freediving is a simple sport that doesn’t require much in the way of equipment; instead of relying on gear, freedivers rely on their own abilities to break personal records while enjoying the true silence of the underwater world. How did this sport get its start?
Ancient Evidence
There is ample evidence that people have always been fascinated with life underwater. The most ancient records have been found along the Baltic seacoast, where a civilization nicknamed the “Clam Eaters” thrived between seven and ten thousand years ago. So named due to physical evidence that shellfish was a primary food source, this civilization included people whose primary pursuit was diving for food.
Additional evidence of freediving can be found simply by analyzing jewelry and other precious items in search of pearls – treasures that can only be obtained from oysters living in water too deep for simple wading. The oldest pearls uncovered so far date back to about 3,500 BCE, and were prized by ancient Egyptians.
Freediving was common throughout ancient Greece and Rome, with people obtaining sponges and shellfish, and even salvaging some fairly shallow shipwrecks by diving to the bottom to retrieve valuable items lost by accident. There is an abundance of archaeological evidence that confirms the importance of freediving to these cultures.
The Birth of Modern-Day Freediving
In 1913, a 35-year old Greek fisherman named Haggi Statti became famous as the first modern-day freediver when a ship lost its anchor in about 75 meters of water. Statti, being locally famous for his ability to hold his breath while diving, was hired by the ship’s captain. He spent several days searching for the anchor at depths between 60 and 80 meters, eventually recovering it from a depth of 76 meters after being immersed for approximately three minutes. Statti was rewarded with a small payment.
The first official freediving record was attained in 1949, when Raimondo Bucher dove to a depth of 30 meters. The record was proven by a waiting diver, to whom Bucher passed a document sealed in a glass container. The record was broken in 1951 and again in 1952, when freedivers reached respective depths of 35 and 39 meters.
Enzo Maiorca achieved a depth of 50 meters in 1961, setting off a rivalry with Jacques Mayol, who beat the record in 1966 with a dive to 60 meters. Maiorca and Mayol enjoyed contests year after year, eventually reaching depths of more than 100 meters apiece. Mairoca retired after diving to 101 meters, and Mayol retired after achieving a depth of 105 meters.
The rivalries continued throughout the 1980s and 1990s, with Francisco ‘Pipin’ Ferreras of Cuba reaching a depth of 112 meters in 1989, and Italian Umberto Pelizzari achieving a depth of 123 meters in 1992. The two men reclaimed the title from one another several times, with Pelizzari eventually attaining a depth of 150 meters in 1999. Since then, depths of over 200 meters have been achieved, and the popularity of freediving has continued to grow. With competitions for men and women worldwide, it is a sport almost anyone can learn to enjoy.