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Free-diving refers to various aquatic activities that share the practice of breath-hold diving. Examples include breathhold spearfishing, freedive photography, Apnea competitions and, to a degree, snorkeling. more...

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The activity that garners the public's attention is Competitive Apnea, considered an extreme sport, where competitors attempt to attain great depths, times or distances on a single breath and without direct assistance of a breathing apparatus.

Description

Freediving refers to a technique that is used with various aquatic activities. While in general all aquatic activities that include breath-hold diving might be classified as a part of freediving, some sports are more accepted than others. Examples of recognised freediving activities are (non-) competitive freediving, (non-) competitive spearfishing, freedive photography and mermaid shows. Less recognised examples of freediving include, but are not limited to, synchronised swimming, underwater rugby, underwater hockey, underwater hunting other than spearfishing and snorkeling. The discussion remains whether freediving is only a synonym for breath-hold diving or whether it describes a specific group of underwater activities. Freediving is often strongly associated with competitive breath-hold diving or Competitive Apnea. It is considered to be an extreme sport wherein competitors attempt to attain great depths, times, or distances on a single breath and without the assistance of breathing apparatus like SCUBA. The following remainder of this article will only discuss competitive freediving as an athletic sport.

Competitive Freediving

Competitive freediving is currently governed by two world associations: AIDA International and CMAS. Most types of competitive freediving have in common that it is an individual sport based on the best individual achievement. An exception to this rule is the bi-annual World Championship for Teams, held by AIDA International, where the combined score of the team members makes up the team's total points. There are currently nine disciplines used by official governing bodies and a dozen disciplines that are only practiced locally. In this article, the recognized disciplines of AIDA International and CMAS will be described. All disciplines can be done by both men and women and, while done outdoors, no differences in the environment between records are recognized any longer. The disciplines of AIDA International can be done both in competition and as a record attempt, with the exception of Variable Weight and No limits, which are both only done as record attempts. The following official disciplines are recognized by (AIDA), (CMAS), or both.

Pool Disciplines

Static Apnea is timed breath holding and is usually attempted in a pool. (AIDA); Dynamic Apnea with fins. This is underwater swimming in a pool for distance. For this discipline the athlete can choose whether to use bi-fins or the monofin. (AIDA), (CMAS); Dynamic Apnea without fins. This is underwater swimming in a pool for distance without any swimming aids like fins. (AIDA);

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