Olympics

[jasondbaker]

Anybody watching the Olympics? What has been your favorite event so far?

The swimming and gymnastics have been entertaining.
The only thing that drives me nuts is the commentary. I want to watch the event without being told about every little point deduction that occurs.

As a guy I gotta admit the womens beach volleyball is pretty good.

Should freediving be an olympic event?

[FreediveWI]

It's actually supposed to be there this year as a demonstration event.

I think that Herbert, Martin and Mandy-Rae were all planning on setting some new world records while they were there.

Jon

[FreediveWI]

Demonstration of Freediving held during 2004 Olympics
Thursday Jul 8, 2004 @ 23:11
Submitted by Cliff Etzel

If you've seen Luc Besson's movie classic THE BIG BLUE, then you will have an idea of what the sport of freediving is about.

On Saturday, the 21st of August, 2004 - Multiple World Record attempts will be made by International Freedivers on the Greek island of Spetses. The dive is a demonstration of the sport of Freediving as a part of the 2004 Olympic Games.

Divers will attempt depths as deep as 130 meters (429 feet) and return to the surface on a single breath of air.

World Champion freedivers such as Martin Stepanek of the Chez Republic and Fred Buyle of Belgium will demonstrate the sport by attempting to break existing world records in the CONSTANT WEIGHT and VARIABLE WEIGHT CATEGORIES.

Teams of safety divers and underwater camera operators will ensure the absolute safety of the divers as well as cover the event for the media.

The dives will be supervised by AIDA the sport's governing body.

[DiveCaptDean]

Hey Jon,
I am all for your love of, and your sport in general, but I find it hard to justify the possiblity of the sport becoming Olympic. Not because i feel that the sport is unworthy, because if any sport if worthy of medals and support, deep freediving is...you have to respect these people. My concern comes from a safety issue. We all know that there is nothing safe about going for these records....I know that a bobsledder, Super G skiier or a plethera of other atheletes are risking their health on a daily basis, but i dont feel that they are every really risking their lives...at least not to the extent that these types of divers are....I have to say that although i find it easy to place these athletes very high on a list of AMAZING ATHLETES, i feel that the actual risk involved in this type of diving does not, in my opinion, fit into the Olympic structure.....
During your rip fest, be kind.....

Deano

[FreediveWI]

Unfortunately Freediving gets a bad rap from people like Pipin.

His wife died because he put together a huge group of Strokes for a safety team- one diver on air at 330' and one on mix at 560'. If you look at people like Tanya Streeter, who puts a diver on mix every 30' all the way down the line, you will see a much better record- as in no problems.

The international competition in Cyprus this year yielded new record constant weight dives ( no sleds, just fins) to depths of 345' without a problem. The safety system is very impressive. All divers are teathered to a down line. If at anytime there is a probelm underwater a weight is released on the counter balance system and the diver is on the surface in less than a minute. In addition to this there are safety diver and photographers up and down the lines. Dives don't count if the diver even shows the slightest signs of a blackout once back on the surface. Dives also don't count if they are not videod from start to finish. All of this falls under the guidelines put forth by AIDA and the USAA. The crap you see in the "Big Blue" and Pipins videos are circus acts and not real athletic competition.

There has never been a death in an orginized comeption- only during self proclaimed "record dives" that weren't conducted in organized venues.

One of the ideas, to make it easier for spectators, would be to limit Olympic events to dynamic apnea- swimming laps underwater in a pool. This could be easily set up with safety divers, camera, spectators, and venues. Yhe current world rfecord, for men, is something like 200 meters on a single breath.

Jon

[DiveCaptDean]

I read a little about that whole fiasco...I also heard that there may have been more to her death than mearly skipping safety divers, and innocently mis checking her lift bag. We will never know.....but he was an arrogant prick...huge lungs or no huge lungs, his head was always bigger..from what i hear...NOw, I would be all over the controlled depth idea and would find it quite interesting to watch something like that. to see someone go 200 meters underwater on one breath...pretty cool. Granted, it is more impressive watching someone go deep....but the safety issue still turns me off..no matter what kind of safety net is used.....keep in mind...I greatly respect your sport
deano

[FreediveWI]

I agree with your sentiment on him. His wife was very nice and I talked to her a few times to try and schedule a course with him- in the end I ended up training with a whole team of record holders, some of whom were also trimix instructor-trainers and had a much better grasp of diving physilology than he did. The times that I did actually meet both of them she was always nice and he was, welll, Pipin.

Here is a diagram of what a counter blanance system looks like.

Jon

[FreediveWI]

Besides the line there are also safety divers in the water with modified lift bags that they can snap onto the diver and inflate- as they have their own bottles.

What actually works out a little bit better is to have the bag clipped onto the line and then just turn the valve on the bottle if their is a problem. This pulls the bag up and since the diver is already clipped to the line it will bring the diver up as well. Divers can be stationed with these bags every 30' and can be clipped in at any point during the dive.

Here's a shot of what one looks like.

Jon

[FreediveWI]

The last picutre showed a wrist strap with a D-ring on it- that's how the club in England runs their dives. Each diver is teahtered to the line and also has a D-ring on thir wrist for the safety diver to clip it on- "hook on and forget" is what they call it.

Here's a shot of it in action.

[DiveCaptDean]

Its an impressive system..no doubt.....It must be one hell of a ride!!! ;D