Martin Stepanek - Forgetting one's need to breathe
In today's edition of One on One Jan's guest is charismatic Czech sportsman Martin Stepanek - world champion in freediving, a sport in which one dives without scuba gear and stays underwater on one breath for excruciating lengths of time. Recently Martin Stepanek set a new world record in one of his sport's most dominant events, diving to 103 metres. Jan began by asking first how Martin Stepanek had gotten involved in the sport of freediving and what kind of commitment it required.
"Well, in the back of my mind there was always this freediving desire. I used to be a competitive monofin swimmer, which is a kind of a similar sport where you race in the pool for time, which is just like swimming, but with a huge monofin, a whale-shaped tail fin. My favourite event was the 50 metre underwater sprint. So, it's kind of similar to freediving: you're holding your breath, you're swimming underwater. I always wanted to pursue a freediving career but didn't have a chance because in the Czech Republic there was no one who was doing it. When I got to the U.S., I tried to look for people who were doing the sport so that they could help me out, but I never thought I would be so good in it."
You began in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where you live to this day - what were those beginnings like? Actually, you had one t-shirt, some swimming trunks, a little swimming equipment... it must have been very tough.
"Yeah, beginnings were hard, but all beginnings are hard, I think. I started realising I could be good in this sport, I started thinking I could break the world record and I started training for it. But, I was unknown in the freediving world so I had no sponsors and all this costs a lot of money. So, I had to save and lived really poor for a while as I got ready for the record."
We should talk about the sport itself to describe some of its different events...
"Um, the freediving disciplines: I would divide them as either pool or open water. In the pool you have what's called Static Apnea, where you simply try to hold your breath for as long as possible, either floating face down, or staying at the bottom of the pool. Dynamic Apnea is swimming underwater, with or without fins, and you try to cover distance. Out in the open water then the most prestigious event among divers is the Constant Ballast - that's the typical one where you swim down and back up using just fins, that's it. Another discipline is called Free Immersion, you don't wear fins for that one but pull yourself along a rope. This is more or less a traditional discipline, that's how they used to dive when pearl hunting, original pearl hunters, there were no fins back then."
You yourself have set records - world records - in Static Apnea. You were underwater for 8 minutes and 6 seconds; now that record has just recently been broken I understand, just this year, setting the new mark at 8 minutes and 47 seconds. That's a lot of time underwater, how much further can you go? Surely this must be the limit.
"Well, this is the intriguing thing about our sport or any sport: just when you think you have reached the edge of what can be done, someone else will show up who pushes the limit a little further. Or, you yourself will work harder and progress. Yeah, I was kind of surprised because this guy (Tom Sietas, Germany) showed up almost out of nowhere and just shattered my record. However, he proved positive during drug tests so I will probably retain my title."
I see, so that is an interesting development. Now, just a few weeks ago you set another world record in the Constant Ballast, using the monofin, you went down to 103 metres. What was that like?
"It's hard to describe the dive itself. Competitive dives are totally different than training dives because you try and focus on everything you do so that you do it right. Dives at these depths are pretty much calculated, a single kick of the fin - I know exactly how many times I'm going to kick before I switch into what I like to call a 'different gear'. Kicking harder at the beginning, then easier, then I reach a certain point when I am just freefalling, then I have to focus on my body position, be hydrodynamic, different equalisation techniques depending on the depth, again, there's a lot of stuff. In the end during these dives you're just so focused on what you do that most of the time you don't remember the dive. But, the feelings afterwards I do remember: it's something really, really cool when you realise you've gone deeper than anyone else in the world before. That's pretty cool."
In general, how do you train for important dives like that, things that you have to be prepared for?
"There are a lot of different factors that are important for us in our training. But, basically what we try and do is train our bodies to build up tolerance on a low level of oxygen and a high level of CO2, which is a by-product produced by our bodies while we hold our breath, and work towards lactic acid tolerance. You know, the burning sensation you feel when you run too fast, that's what we go through, through our final dives as well. We try to train our bodies to retain more oxygen, increase our blood's carrying capacity. I would almost say, you want to be a really good stamina athlete like a long-distance runner, because they have a lot of haemoglobin and all that kind of stuff but at the same time you want to be a really good sprinter, because these guys can work without any immediate oxygen supply. So, that's the trick in our sport: to find a good balance between these two things."
To change the subject: how do you feel, today, about living in the U.S.? Do you come back to the Czech Republic?
"I do, I do, and quite often lately. It's funny: it seems like I live in the U.S. but I say that's where I wash my clothes; I've been travelling so much that I don't even know where I live! Um, I had a hard time at the beginning, it's a different culture. That doesn't mean they're better or worse, but different, something I wasn't used to. I'm also kind of a nomadic person: I like travelling, and that's what I do, training and diving in different locations around the world. Coming home is nice but I like seeing different places as well."
Do you have an anecdote when you encounter people who are not as familiar with your sport?
"Well yeah (laughs) there are always lots of funny stories. Just the name 'freediving', I've seen many people get confused thinking they could take scuba lessons for free! Let's go scuba diving and then we're not gonna pay for it!"
Is there any moment that you recall most underwater? I don't necessarily mean a freedive but it could be scuba diving, a particular corral reef that you still think about?
"I have experienced a lot of nice moments underwater. But, it's mostly freediving because the feeling is really very different, not having cumbersome gear and bubbles all around you. One of my best dives recreationally was in Hawaii, about two years ago when I was playing with this turtle underwater. I've dived with animals before dolphins are always fun and all that, but I would never believe I could have such a nice dive and interaction with a turtle. We were basically swimming around and dancing underwater for about four minutes and I didn't even need to breathe. That was such a unique experience: forgetting you need to breathe and really becoming part of the underwater environment. That was pretty cool."
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www.deeperblue.net/article.php/121 Reality Czech - The Martin Stepanek Odyssey
