Natalya Molchanova - the queen of freediving - madly in love with the sea and disappeared forever into the blue abyss

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:41

Natalya was never found. In the summer of 2015, she came to Formentera, a small island near Ibiza, to give freediving lessons to three young people. On August 2, the girl dived to a very shallow depth for her and did not emerge. The search lasted four days, helicopters and underwater robots were involved, but to no avail. The most titled freediving champion Natalya Molchanova, whose record no one has been able to beat so far, has remained forever in her beloved blue sea.

How Natalia became a swimmer

Sport Natalia loved since childhood. But a chance brought her to the pool - as a child, Natalya's sister, Rina, almost drowned during a family vacation on the river. After the incident, the parents enrolled their daughters in the swimming section. This determined the further fate of Molchanova.

She was easy to learn, it was not difficult for Natalia to swim across the 25-meter pool. In the section, the girl was the leader. After graduating from school, she entered the Academy of Physical Education and Sports in Volgograd. I participated in competitions, and there I met Oleg. Youngthe man did not swim professionally, rather for he alth, but Natalia's heart was conquered.

Marriage only lasted ten years

During this time, Natalia Molchanova gave birth to two children, a boy and a girl. Daughter Oksana was not fond of swimming. But the son Alexei followed in the footsteps of the famous mother. Natalya worked enthusiastically as a children's coach and did not notice how her husband was carried away by another woman.

Oleg left the family after ten years of marriage. Natalia was going through a difficult divorce. Left with two children in her arms, she grabbed any job to feed them. The woman was depressed for three years.

Freediving article

One day Natalia came across a magazine with an article about freediving. The author so realistically and vividly described his feelings and emotions when diving, that the woman caught fire with the idea and already in 2002 flew to Egypt for diving courses. She was 40 years old.

The very first lesson caused an unrealistic delight, and she realized that she would stay in freediving forever. She showed phenomenal abilities - already at the end of the ten-day course, Natalia dived to a depth of forty meters! It was just an unrealistic achievement for a newbie.

For your information, freediving is an extreme sport. Swimmers dive without scuba gear, just holding their breath. It is considered to be quite a dangerous sport that claims hundreds of lives every year.

Over the next thirteen years, Natalia set two Russian records and fortytwo(!) world records. Participating in her first competition in 2003 - the Moscow Open Cup - Molchanova swam 142 meters under water on one breath. And she set a second record when she held her breath for 5 minutes 39 seconds. The cup organizers were shocked by such results.

Natalia was offered to participate in an international competition in Cyprus. There, the athlete received a prize from Freediver magazine - she swam 150 meters and repeated the world record. Natalia became a champion and in all subsequent years she took first places in competitions, updating records.

The lung volume measuring device on the champion went off scale

The maximum mark on the spirometer is 8 liters. On average, lung volume in women is about 3-4 liters, in men from 4 to 5. Athletes can increase this figure by training up to 6-7 liters. In Natalia Molchanova, it was not possible to accurately measure the volume of the lungs. The spirometer went off scale at the maximum mark, which means that we do not know the exact indicators. But the fact that the figure was more than eight is for sure.

Natalia set an absolute world record by holding her breath for 9 minutes! To date, no one has been able to get around the record holder. Another achievement - diving to a depth of 101 meters.

Son Alexey and his mother went in for freediving, they trained together and supported each other in everything. Alexei Molchanov is still setting records in competitions.

Together they overcame the famous Blue Hole in the Red Sea. This is an underwater cave, going to a depth of more than a hundred meters. By the way, she is called"graveyard of divers", but mother and son bravely conquered this peak as well. In addition, the woman was the first in the world who succeeded. And this is another record.

A brave, amazing woman with phenomenal abilities, freediver Natalia Molchanova fell in love with the sea and conquered it to the very end. At the age of 53, she disappeared during another dive. The blue abyss that Natalia admired so much took her forever.