The history of freediving in person. King of the Abyss - Enzo Majorca Enzo Majorca years of life

They are called "kings of the abyss" and "living bathyscaphes." Their records amaze the imagination of anyone who has ever tried to dive to the bottom in a deep place and... didn’t reach it - there wasn’t enough air. Once upon a time, records in deep-sea diving started at 30 meters (by the way, this is the height of a 10-story building). Raimondo Booker, who first conquered this milestone in the Bay of Naples in 1949, became a national hero in Italy. Since then, the title of the best diver has been disputed by many.

And today freedivers go more than a hundred meters deep and spend more than 5 minutes underwater (without scuba gear!). This impressive progress was the result of a “duel”, which, unfortunately, few people remember today.

The duelists' names were Enzo Mallorca and Jacques Mayol - they were the best divers of the 20th century. The Italian Mallorcan set his first record in 1960 - he dived to 49 meters in the Bay of Syracuse. At that time he was 29 years old, and for 7 of them he was diving - first for pleasure, then out of sporting interest. And over the next 14 years he set another 15 world records! At first he had no rivals, but then two appeared at once - Robert Croft and Jacques Mayol. In 1967, Mallorca dived to 64 meters, and Croft - to 66. And the next year, the Frenchman Maillol “made” them both, taking the line of 70 meters! But I was happy about the record for only six months. Croft beat him - he sunk to 73 and... left the game, he didn’t have enough health.Enzo Mallorca and Jacques Mayol were left alone. From that moment on, their battle for records in deep-sea diving without the use of technical means turned into a duel.

Maillol was 4 older than his opponentof the year. As a child, while traveling with his parents in Peru, Jacques was surprised to learn that his surname in the Aztec language means “one who came out of the water.” Fate? Who knows... Before diving, he managed to be a lumberjack, actor, pianist, journalist, cameraman... Once he made a report for Canadian radio about an unusual underwater surgical operation. The patient was Joe the Dolphin from the Miami Aquarium. After this, Maillol changed his profession again and became an excellent dolphin trainer. He taught them various tricks, and they taught him how to dive. And when in 1966 he was invited to participate in the “dances of great depths” (as journalists poetically call freediving competitions), the 39-year-old newcomer immediately became a leader.

So the duel began.

But Mallorca did not even think of admitting defeat.

The following year, 1974, he plunged to 87 meters! It was the last of 15 world records he set, and it nearly proved fatal. While surfacing, Mallorca suffered barotrauma of the lungs and lost consciousness on the surface. It was not a simple faint, but a coma that lasted 5 minutes, from which he was brought out only by artificial heart massage.

Enzo Mallorca said goodbye to the “dances of great depths”, but he said goodbye to them as a winner. Maillol had no more competitors. But the desire to conquer the blue abyss again and again did not weaken - he continued to compete with himself.Enzo Maiorca

It turned out to be no less exciting. He had fewer records than Mallorca - only 10, but what a record! In 1976, near the island of Elba, he conquered a depth of 100 meters. A nylon cable with a shiny metal circle that reflected the sun's rays was lowered from the small vessel Elbano Uno - tokens with the inscription “100 meters” were attached to it. Maillol had to pick at least one of them underwater. He managed to reach this mark and, to his horror, realized that he was unable to see the tokens on the shiny circle - maybe they had been torn off or the diver’s eyes were simply blurred... On the ship, the timekeeper noted the exact time of descent - 01.45. Maillol looked for the tokens for 12 seconds and, not finding them, began to climb. These 12 seconds cost him such incredible stress that he flew out of the water like a bullet, which was extremely dangerous. Fortunately, everything worked out fine. He jumped to the surface and shouted triumphantly: “Ku-ku!” - like a boy. The rise took 01.43. Maillol became the king of the deep sea for 3 minutes and 40 seconds.

The next morning, his record was on the front pages of the newspapers: “Jacques Mayol became the first person in the world to successfully reach the 100-meter mark in diving without scuba gear!” In 1981, he surpassed himself - he dived even deeper - 101 meters, and did it in only 3 minutes and 10 seconds. Meanwhile, the legendary diver had already turned 54. And his “duel” continued.

On the twenty-third of November 1976, in the Tyrrhenian Sea, twenty nautical miles from the Italian island of Elba, abeam of Cape Ripalti, a long-term marathon between two professional divers was put to an end, unattainably ahead of everyone else: the Italian Enzo Mallorca and the Frenchman Jacques Mayol.

Competitors, having “rested” in depths of up to seventy-five meters, have long been forced out of the deep-sea distance.

In 1975, Jacques's friend and last competitor, Enzo, while trying to win the palm, received severe barotrauma of the lungs and abandoned further struggle for the crown of the conqueror of the depths. Today the finalist dived... WITH The sides of the small boat "Elbano Uno" lowered a nylon cable with a heavy metal mirror circle at the end into the abyss of the Tyrrhenian Sea. Two tokens with a depth mark of 100 meters were attached to the circle. At least one of them should have picked Mayol...

During training, he reached a depth of 96 meters; but every next meter was becoming more and more difficult...

Conditions for the free dive of the “superman of the abyss,” who went into the depths without scuba gear, were not the best: the sea was rough, foreshadowing a possible storm; the weather is cloudy and very cool; the support team was not fully assembled; Jacques's mood, due to the long wait for the right moment, could have been better. In addition, two fingers of the left hand have not yet healed after a severe burn. But... The Rubicon had already been crossed! The sea was waiting...

Sitting on a platform attached to the side of the Elbano Uno, forty-nine-year-old Jacques Mayol hyperventilated his lungs using breathing exercises according to the yoga system, “pranayama”. Only he, of all the famous divers, resorted to the practice of yoga...

There were five minutes left before the dive and Jacques once again assessed the situation, mentally repeating the sequence of actions in the upcoming process of “piercing” a hundred-meter layer of water. Contact lenses had already been inserted into the eyes - the latest replacement for the half mask, the legs were shod in long, heavy fins...

Two minutes before the start of the dive. To insure Jacques, his friends, scuba divers Alfredo Guglielmi and Roberto Araldi, went to a depth of one hundred meters. A minute before the end of hyperventilation, Jurgen Esche and Gaetano Cafiero went to insure Jacques at a depth of seventy meters; next, fifty meters away - Luciano Galli; to a depth of thirty-five meters - Giuseppe Alessi; ten meters - Marco Puccini. On the surface he belayed the record holder Gaetano Donati. Underwater photographer Enrico Cappelleti had to “catch” historical moments in the depth range of 25 - 35 meters.

Finally, having finished hyperventilating, Jacques closed his nostrils with a clamp, took a last, deep breath, nodded to his permanent timekeeper Michele Martorello, and... the diver's ballast rushed down from the platform, rapidly dragging Jacques Maillol with it. Descent!..

But the day was not entirely favorable... Soon Jacques noticed that before throwing himself into the abyss, his assistants did not completely pump out the air from the lifting buoy, and it “slowed down,” reducing the speed of descent. True, as the depth increased, the volume of the buoy decreased and the speed increased...

At a depth of thirty-five meters, Jacques felt a tap on his shoulder. It was Giuseppe who made him aware of the passage of the control mark. Forty-five meters is the depth at which Maillol usually “purged” with a special technique, equalizing the pressure in the ears, maxillary and frontal sinuses with the surrounding pressure. Hypothermia suffered during one of the previous training sessions made this procedure difficult.

Jacques was forced to slow down and stop for two seconds at a depth of fifty meters to once again equalize the pressure. By sixty meters he had again picked up the required speed, but, approaching seventy, he was forced to slow down so as not to worry Esche and Cafiero, who had missed his approach. Jurgen Esche barely had time to slap Jacques on the back. However, the most unpleasant “surprise” was waiting near the cherished goal. Approaching the record mark, Jacques tried to make out the "100-meter" tokens on the shiny ballast, but could not see them.

The thought flashed that Guglielmi and Araldi had torn them off by “grabbing nitrogen narcosis.” Here comes the impact of the accelerating load, and... a depth of one hundred meters has been reached. Timekeeper Martorello, who felt every vibration of the guide rope, recorded the time of descent - one minute and forty-five seconds. And Jacques tried in vain to find at least one token! There weren't any.

I opened the lifting buoy filling valve, but for a long time I could not find the stopper that frees the buoy from ballast. Finally, I found and gave the stopper; began the climb, noting the time. Mayol stayed at a depth of one hundred meters for twelve seconds. In violation of all the rules, he flew to the surface like a bullet... but everything turned out well. Exhale, inhale...

And so, Jacques “gives out” to everyone present his traditional victorious “peek-a-boo!!!” Martorello records the ascent time as one minute and forty-three seconds. The total time of the campaign for the crown of the conqueror of the deep took three minutes and forty seconds. Maillol became the FIRST PERSON IN THE WORLD TO SUCCESSFULLY REACH THE HUNDRED METER MARK IN DIVING WITHOUT SCUBA! The first and only!

Mallorca is a world champion and owner of many other honorary titles, called by journalists a “fierce Sicilian” and a “living bathyscaphe.” It is difficult to find another person so dedicated to his work and persistent in achieving his goals.

The childhood of the Italian Ichthyander

Enzo was born in 1931 in Syracuse, a Sicilian port city. At the age of four, he already knew how to swim, although for a long time he was afraid of the sea and tried in every possible way to fight this phobia. The boy quickly learned to dive, and soon did it solely for his own pleasure. The fear of depth passed, the young man fell in love with this activity and began to engage in this sport seriously. Indeed, it’s hard not to fall in love if you live on the shores of one of the most beautiful seas on the planet.

Enzo soon learned about the existence of such pros as Alberto Novelli and Enio Falco, who conquered an incredible depth of 41 meters at that time, and this haunted him. The guy firmly decided to achieve the same result at all costs, and then surpass it. Hard work on myself and long training began.

Conqueror of the depths - an athlete's triumphant dives

Constant training yielded results, and soon another champion appeared on the world stage - Enzo Mallorca. His eternal rivals and a real nightmare were Robert Croft, Tetake Williams, Amerigo Santarelli and. All five athletes achieved unprecedented success in their field and ushered in a new era of free diving.

The first to break the record of Novelli and Falco was the Brazilian Amerigo Santarelli, who conquered a depth of first 43 and then 44 meters. Enzo Mallorca soon took the championship from him and dived to a depth of 45 meters. Later, he broke his own record three times - the maximum mark to which he managed to dive was a depth of 50 meters.

Enzo experienced real euphoria and declared that not a single person in the world could defeat him or achieve the same results in this sport. In 1961, Mallorca again broke his record - now he is the only athlete on the planet to reach a depth of 51 meters. With this record, he completely destroyed the theory that was current at that time, according to which a person’s chest would be crushed at a depth of 50 meters.

Clash of the Titans - from success to defeat

- an activity for real men, and Enzo’s rivals were not in the mood to concede primacy to him. In 1965, Tetaka Williams managed to dive to a depth of 59 meters, and Jacques Mayol reached a depth of 60 meters.

Mallorca used all the hidden resources of his own body, and broke this record in 1966, regaining the world champion title. After this, the title of best freediver goes to Robert Croft (64 meters), then returns to Enzo (67 meters). It seemed that this would go on forever. What is the limit of human capabilities? Mallorca proved that they are limitless.

Enzo's next record is a depth of 74 meters. He didn’t have to feel like a winner for long, since less than a month later, Maillol managed to dive to a depth of 77 meters at a competition in Japan. From this point on, all recognized leaders drop out of the race, and the rivalry for the title continues only between Mallorca and Mayol.

The end of the era of the great Enzo Mallorca

They don’t stop there, each of them tries to break the opponent’s record and regain the laurels of the winner. Enzo Mallorca broke new records in the early 70s - first he dived to a depth of 77, then 79 meters; he managed to reach 80 meters in just 2.19 minutes. The athlete is literally obsessed with the idea of ​​always being the first, but in 1983 Maillol sets a new record - 86 meters.

Exactly one year later, Enzo is 1 meter ahead of him, but another year later Maillol dives to 92 meters, and in 1976 he becomes the first person on the planet who managed to dive to a depth of 100 meters. All attempts by Mallorca to get ahead or at least catch up with their opponents are unsuccessful.

Mayol dealt the final blow to the athlete in 1985, when he dived to an incredible depth of 105 meters. And although this record was not officially registered by the Underwater Sports Federation, Enzo recognizes the primacy of his opponent. Mentally, he is completely broken, but does not give up hope of returning the champion title.

Mallorca managed to reach the coveted 100-meter limit in 1988, his next goal is to get ahead of Maillol with his 105 meters. Unfortunately, Enzo only managed to dive to 101 meters, after which he rises to the surface and loses consciousness. Doctors ascertain that the athlete has serious barotrauma of the lungs, after which he abandons further competition with Jacques Mayol and ends his freediver career.

Mallorca devotes the rest of his time to his family, and he also takes an active part in the environmental movement. At the same time, he does not stop freediving and claims that he feels like an absolutely happy person in moments of complete unity with nature.

Frenchman Jacques Mayol was born in Shanghai in 1927. In addition to his real name, he is also known by the nickname "Dolphin Man" due to the underwater freediving research work he did and the special relationship he developed with dolphins.

Maillol became fascinated by the sea thanks to his friendship with a dolphin named Clown at the Miami Aquarium in the US state of Florida, where he was sent as a journalist for the Canadian radio station Radio Canada to collect material for writing an article and record some sounds. The head of the aquarium's program planning department invited him to stay for a while. Maillol agreed and began working as an employee maintaining the pools and feeding their various inhabitants. At the same time, he was allowed to dive in the large pool with all the dolphins, including the Clown, with whom he later developed a special friendship.

Maillol learned from the Clown how to hold his breath for a long time during each dive, how to behave underwater, how to blend seamlessly into the underwater world, and even how to laugh there. Through these lessons, he combined the power of yoga and Eastern philosophy with his diving skills. He first became acquainted with all these concepts when he was a child and lived in Japan. The combination of these emotional and physiological factors opened up the opportunity for him to make a record dive to a depth of 100 meters.

This dive, which Maillol made in 1976, was, to put it mildly, life-changing. He “threw down the gauntlet”, inviting the next brave man to dare to pick it up.

The dive was part of a decades-long rivalry between Maillol and Italian freediver Enzo Maiorca, the first person to dive below the 50-metre mark. Jacques Mayol's record shattered Mallorca's achievement. Their rivalry lasted more than 10 years, during which the depth of maximum dives doubled. Ultimately, the competition between the two athletes inspired Luc Besson to make the film “Abyss Blue,” which brought fame to both rivals, Mayol and Mallorca. Everyone should definitely watch the film.

In 1981, Maillol, testing the Seamaster 120, a new watch model from Omega, dived to 101 meters, thereby breaking his own record. In 1983, he decided to stop this race for depth. At the age of 56, he dived 105 meters, broke all possible records and decided to give way to younger and hotter contenders for his crown.

For most of his life, Mayol dived out of love for the ocean, a desire to express his own philosophy and test the limits of his body. And he did it in a delightful manner. Through his efforts, he provided an invaluable service to freediving, introducing an entire philosophy known today as “Apnea Diving.” Its central idea is to maintain consciousness in a state of relaxation in accordance with the canons of yoga. He also contributed to the development of the technical side of diving, especially in relation to the devices used in the "no limits" discipline, which allow freedivers to reach great depths, survive at them and return to the surface. His contribution to the development of this difficult and dangerous sport cannot be overestimated. All ocean explorers are indebted to him.

Maillol shared his vision of the future in the book “Homo Delphinus. Dolphin inside a man." The term "Homo Delphinus" refers to people who are comfortable in the water like dolphins, love the ocean like dolphins, and understand the importance of protecting and keeping it clean. Maillol believed that one day people would be able to dive to depths of 200 meters and hold their breath for up to 10 minutes. And that day will come.

Today, world champions such as Umberto Pelizzari and Pipin Ferreras have almost double the lung capacity of Maillol and have reached depths almost double those to which he dived. Female freediver Tanya Streeter made a mind-blowing dive of 160 meters. Now no one can predict what will happen in the future, but the path there was definitely paved by such pioneers as Jacques Mayol.

He had one favorite quote: “Someday future generations will regain the connection with the underwater world that they lost through evolution many years ago. They will exist in complete harmony with the sea, will dive and play at great depths with their sea brethren, holding their breath for a long time, and will even be able to give rise to new lives among the dolphins swimming around. The concept "Homo Delphinus" is not an empty phrase."

All you have to do is take your hat off to such a person.

110. Coincidence: Enzo Mallorca's record - Materazzi and Mette-Merit were born

August 18, 1973sport: Italian Enzo Mallorca dived 80 meters - a record

August 18, 1973 In the open sea, near La Spezia, in the presence of officials, Enzo Mallorca performed a record descent to a depth of 80 m without scuba gear. Enzo's journey to the depths and back took 139 seconds. The record was witnessed by Italian correspondents and fans who flocked to the dive site in advance. For mnemonic coincidence, see below.

August 19, 1973sport: born Italian Marco Materazzi- football player, champion, “famous” for his clash with Zidane in the 2006 World Cup final.

August 19, 1973 Marco Materazzi was born in Lecce, Italy, a defender of Inter Milan, and the 2006 world champion. In the final of this championship, he clashed with the French leader Zinedine Zidane. Zidane headbutted Materazzi in the chest after verbal provocation; Materazzi fell and feigned injury. Zidane was sent off and the Italians won the match on penalties. For mnemonic coincidence, see below.

August 19, 1973Norway: Crown Princess Mette-Marit Tjessem Heiby was born

August 19, 1973 Mette-Marit Tjessem Heiby was born in Kristiansand, Norway - since 2001. Crown Princess Mette-Marit - wife of Crown Prince Hakon of Norway. Mette-Marit is the daughter of a Norwegian journalist; before she met Prince Hakon, she led a rather hectic life, changed several jobs, including working as a waitress and fruit picker, and has an illegitimate child, the son Marius. The wave heroine Mette-Marit met her husband Hakon at a rock festival in her hometown - and the prince could not resist - normal wave history . The children of the wave heroine of the Norwegian Crown Princess Mette-Marit - Princess Ingrida Alexandra (born 2004) and Prince Sverre Magnus (born 2005) - are heirs to the throne of Norway.

E n CO MALLORCA MARCO MA T ERACC And

IDA co MATERAZZI P RI n CE ss AND METTE MERIT

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