20 metres short on two attempts
Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Apr 23/01) - Olivier Terzolo's dream of setting a new world record for free-diving under ice remains a dream.
Terzolo's golden opportunity to realize his dream happened last week at this remote lake 150 kilometres east of Yellowknife.
"I think I could have made it," he said after the first of two attempts Thursday. "I was okay for my air, it was okay for my body. It was completely psychological."
That attempt and another four hours later ended at a hole 20 metres short of his goal of 80 metres.
When he surfaced on the first attempt, Terzolo thought he had only gone 40 metres. A change in the order of the divers stationed at each of the four holes along the 80 metre course confused Terzolo.
He surfaced because he thought he had another 40 metres to swim, when he was only 20 metres from his mark.
Terzolo swam 40 and 60 metres in test sessions the two previous days.
With no wind and temperatures above zero, conditions were ideal on the lake.
It was a different story Thursday, when gusting winds pushed the wind chill to -26 C.
"The regulators are built for very cold conditions, but in the water, not outside," said Thierry Flitti.
Flitti and three other French divers had to use thermoses of boiled water to thaw out their regulators and other diving equipment before each attempt.
The cold also forced a change to the diving routine Terzolo had established in the days before. Instead of 'warming up' with shorter dives, he attempted to skirt the cold by immediately swimming for the record.
"It's like a 100 metre sprinter going to race without running for 10 minutes first," Terzolo said.
Terzolo said he was simply out of air on the second attempt Thursday, but said the problem was still psychological. He had failed to reach the meditative state of calm free divers strive for to allow them to go without air longer.
After each failed attempt, the 28-year-old Parisian operator of an internet advertising business apologized to employees of Blachford Lake Lodge -- where the French team is staying -- who came out to witness the attempts and the northern and European media covering the event.
Eurosport, the European equivalent of ESPN and a sponsor of the event, had a lot riding on the attempt.
Together with Coleman, which contributed $500,000, they are financing five European amateur adventurers' attempts to realize their dreams.
Terzolo's record-setting attempt is the first of the five. All are going to be produced for Eurosport's twice-monthly AdNature adventure sports show.
"The idea was to tell everybody they can realize their dreams," said Sebastian Laugier, the freelance journalist who came up with the idea for the series and who is documenting Terzolo's attempt.
