Freediving

This month Helen Garner will challenge the rest of freediving community by attempting to break the World Record (55m) at an unassisted freedive of 60m.

Helen Garner, a Beauty of Sport Award Winner (2007), holds the record for the deepest dive achieved by a woman in Africa. She is part of the South African World Championship Team and currently ranked third in the world – a huge achievement for someone who only started diving in 2006.

Helen is currently in Dahab, Egypt. She left South Africa on 17 July 2007 to begin her training in Egypt in preparation for her World Record attempt at an unassisted freedive of 60m in October, and then the World Championship later in the same month.

She still trains in Egypt, requiring strength, technique, breath hold and depth training. The category she competes in is ‘constant weight, no fins’ which entails swimming breaststroke down to the bottom plate and back up. Helen assures swimming breaststroke underwater is very different to the one on the surface, hence the rigorous training and nutrition programmes she undergoes.

The Elite Sports Investments (ESI), sponsored Helen’s trip overseas to compete in breaking the world record. On her return, Helen will become an ambassador for the JAG Sports and Education Foundation. Through her teachings and talks, we hope to enable the youth of today to challenge their limitations and live their dream.

Helen is a former competitive swimmer and is also a qualified yoga instructor in both Ashtanga and Power Vinyasa Yoga.

Being under the water is more of a privilege than I can express. We become part of the world beneath the surface. We become the liquid.

Helen Garner