The
History of Freediving and Apnea
(page 1
of 4)
Freediving
is as ancient an activity as humanity
itself. More than any other sport,
freediving is based on old
subconscious reflexes written in the
Homo Sapiens genome.
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For the first 9 months of their
lives, humans exist in an
aquatic environment very similar
to seawater. If an infant is
submerged under water, it
instinctively holds its breath
for up to 40 seconds while
swimming breaststrokes, or
though we seem to lose this
ability as soon as we commence
walking. Waking up these
reflexes is one of the most
important elements of
freediving, thus giving humans
better abilities to be protected
at large depths. |
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Since 1960, a divisive
scientific theory labelled the
Aquatic Ape Hypothesis,
published by late Sir Alister
Hardy, has circled among
zoological scholars. From the
1930’s, the Oxfordian Hardy had
suspected that humans had
primate ancestors more aquatic
than previously imagined. He
based this on studies of human
lack of fur replaced by a layer
of isolating sub skin fat,
similar to that of marine
mammals rather than modern man
apes. This theory indicates that
swimming and diving was a key
ingredient in the eon long
development of the Homo
family from before Out Of Africa
to modern times. |
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Sir Alister Hardy |
The word
Apnea derives from the Greek
word a-pnoia literally meaning
“without breathing”. The origin of this
word doesn’t have connection to water,
but in modern athletic terminology
“Apnea” has become a synonym for
freediving, i.e. diving on one breath of
air, without using equipment that would
make it possible to breathe underwater.
The
Myths
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The
oldest archaeological evidence
that would confirm human breath
hold diving dates back to at
least 5.400 B.C. A
Scandinavian Stone Age culture
called Ertebølle (in some
sources: “Kjøkken-møddinger”)
lived at the coasts of Denmark
and Southern Sweden, and is
believed to have been a culture
of shellfish eating freedivers,
as witnessed by large excavated
kitchen mittens. |
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The Ertebølle culture, 5400 B.C. |
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 Similar
and plentiful archaeological proof of
diving has been found in the
Mesopotamian and Egyptian
civilizations dating back to 4.500 and
3.200 years B.C. On the Mediterranean
coast freediving was a regular
practice during the classic ages,
reported by plenty of myths and legends.
One Hellenic myth tells about Glaucus,
which could be labelled the first
mythological freediver. He was named “The
Green Mariner” and the myth recalls
that he ate a magical herb, which gave
him fins and a fish’s tale. A tale from
the Greek-Persian wars tells of a Greek
fisherman and his daughter Cyan
that at night, under water, cut the
anchor ropes of the Persian war ships.
In another story, the antique Athenians
cut the underwater wooden barriers of
Syracuse.
The
legendary philosopher Aristotle
is the first to document the common
problems associated with diving, e.g.
nose bleeding and pain in the ears.
Alexander the Great used divers and
even a diving bell during his military
campaigns. In the Roman Empire
existed a war unit called “Urniatores”;
they had such tasks like recovering lost
anchors, removing underwater barricades
and other specialized sub aquatic was
tasks.
In Asia,
across the Middle Eastern,
Indian and Pacific Oceans,
the desire for pearls fuelled
freediving activities for centuries.
Most famous of these freediving
traditions is that of the Amas.
These Japanese and Korean female
divers still today use a diving
technique at least 2000 years old.
Women between 17 and 50 years of age
use rocks to get to the bottom where
they pick up shells and sea weeds,
while diving naked 8 to 10 hours a
day in water barely over 10 degrees
Celsius.
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The Legend
In the summer of 1913, the
Italian naval flag ship “La
Regina Margherita” lost its
anchor off the Greek island
Karpathos. A reward was offered
for its retrieval, which gave
way for the strongest of
freediving myths: 35 year old
Chatzistathis (also: Stathis
Chatzi, or Italian: Haggi
Statti), one of the leading
sponge divers from nearby Symi,
stood only 1.70 meters tall and
weighed 65 kilograms; he
suffered from remarkable lung
emphysema, smoked tobacco
extensively, and was part deaf
from a life of diving without
proper equalization. However, on
July 16, he salvaged the anchor
from estimated 88 meters depth,
freediving up to three minutes
at a time. He was carried down
by a heavy stone, this primitive
diving technique being as old as
the Greek civilization itself.
His reward was a sum of 5 pounds
Sterling and permission to use
dynamite for fishing. The legend
of Chatzistathis was considered
vastly exaggerated until 2001,
when the Italian Navy officially
confirmed most previous reports. |
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Chatzistathis, Greece |
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The Year Zero
…was 1949. The Hungarian-born
Italian fighter pilot and avid
spear fisher Raimondo Bucher
founded the modern sport of
freediving by announcing that he
would reach a depth of 30 meters
on a breath hold. Using a large
rock for ballast, Bucher
completed the dive outside
Naples, presenting a parchment
in a cylinder to a surface
supported diver. Bucher later
confessed to have done it all
for a lavish bet of 50.000 lire
with the diver waiting at the
bottom, fellow Italian Ennio
Falco, which two years later
broke Bucher’s record. |
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Raimondo Bucher, Italy |
 Bucher’s
Italy became the nourishing site for
early competitive freediving, seeing
freedivers like Alberto Novelli
and Brazilian Americo Santarelli
setting early records. By 1962, one of
the greatest freedivers of all time
emerged on the scene, as Enzo Maiorca
prompted the first major development of
the then obscure sport of deep
freediving, which he dominated for the
next 25 years. Maiorca was the first to
reach and breach the fateful 50 meters
barrier in 1962, despite predictions
from scientists that beyond 50 meters,
the human lungs would collapse from the
pressure. Maiorca kept increasing his
depths virtually unchallenged....
...this
until Frenchman Jacques Mayol was
introduced in 1966. Born in Shanghai,
China, Jacques Mayol revolutionized
freediving with his use of Eastern yoga
and meditation traditions, rather than
the previous norm of heavy
hyperventilation. Enzo Maiorca had an
fantastic record career that include not
less than seven-teen world records. The
Frenchman Mayol was not far back with
his eleven world records and to be the
one who reached 100 meters first.
To History page 2
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