DATELINE: 29th June 2001
STREETER COMEBACK
Tanya Streeter set two new free-diving world records off the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe - and became the first competitive free-diver to be drugs-tested.
Streeter beat by an emphatic 10m the existing Free Immersion record, hauling herself down and back up a line by hand. Her 70m plunge beat the record set by Cuban Deborah Andollo six years ago.
The dope-test sample was taken afterwards under International Olympic Committee guidelines. It was the first of a new measure brought in by freedive governing body AIDA (the International Association for the Development of Apnea) to dope-test all freedivers embarking on world record attempts and the sport's world championships.
Five days later, Streeter extended her Constant Weight seawater world record by 3m to set a new mark of 70m for women. In this category, divers fin down and back up, and have to return to the surface still carrying whatever weight they choose to speed their descent. Athletically demanding, it is the sport's most natural underwater swimming form.
Streeter's success comes after a period of rehabilitation following knee injuries which had affected her finning ability. It was two years since she had set her previous Constant Weight record.
Also in Guadeloupe, Fred Buyle had to withdraw from attempts on the men's Constant Weight and Free Immersion records because of a physical complaint. He and Streeter were due to return to the Caribbean in early July to attempt world No Limits and Variable Ballast records, using weighted sleds and ascent balloons.
Almost as Streeter was diving in Guadeloupe, Audrey Mestre-Ferreras plunged off Fort Lauderdale to set a new No Limits women's world record of 130m, using a sled running on a vinyl-coated steel cable.
In Fort Lauderdale - but under the auspices of a different sanctioning body, the IAFD (International Association of Freedivers) - Mestre Ferreras teamed up with her husband, the Cuban freediver Pipin, to set a self-styled Mixed Tandem record of 100m, for a sledded man and woman.
Completing a busy May for free-divers, South African Trevor Hutton broke the AIDA freshwater Free Immersion record by 1m with a dive to 66m at Lake Guinas in Namibia.