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From:TheBahamasWeekly.com International
Sara Campbell, dubbed Mighty Mouse because of her petite five foot frame, will compete in the Vertical Blue competition from April 1 on Bahamas’ Long Island. After an incredible year in 2007, Sara claimed three World Records and became World Champion, only to experience an enforced break in training with her mother’s death last summer. But now, back with new goals, the 36-year-old has been training hard in Egypt to prove she really is the top female in the death-defying sport of breathhold diving. “It’s impossible to train without 100 percent mental focus and last year that just wasn’t possible,” she said. “I had to sit by and watch as my world records were taken from me, but I am determined to be the first woman to dive to sub-100m in Constant Weight. I know I can do it, it’s not a matter of if but when. “So far my training dives have all been positive. I still have some way to go, but know I have time and it’s a matter of keeping everything in perspective and taking enough rest. Most athletes go into a panic cycle close to competition, over-training and therefore decreasing their performances. “No matter how behind I am in my schedule, I will never compromise on the rest I allow my body between dives – that’s the time my body gets stronger and more flexible for the next one.” Freediving dates back 4,500 years to the pearl hunters of the South Pacific. More recently, it can be traced to the film The Big Blue, a documentary about the 'fathers of freediving', Enzo Majorca and Jacques Mayol. We all carry a natural "dive reflex" which traces our origins as humans back to the oceans millions of years ago. With training, this reflex response can be increased, slowing the heart and constricting the blood vessels and ensuring oxygen-rich blood is directed to the essential organs of the brain and heart. There are six disciplines in freediving: three in the pool and three in the "deep". Static involves athletes holding their breath in a pool without moving for as long as possible. For Dynamic, divers wear a monofin and swim as many lengths of a pool as possible underwater on one breath. Dynamic No Fins also involves swimming lengths of a pool, but the athlete use a modified form of breaststroke. The "deep" disciplines are Constant Weight where athletes use a monofin to swim vertically down and up, following a rope. Constant Weight No Fins involves swimming breaststroke vertically downwards until your lungs become so compressed, the body becomes heavier than water and begins to sink. Free Immersions is the only discipline in which you can hold on to the rope to pull yourself down and then up.
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