Frederic Buyle is onsite at the IWC World Static Apnea contest and has sent us this report:
The show is on the way and the competition’s site looks beautiful this morning. Yesterday we were up working until 4h30 in the morning and there were still technicians at work when we left. This morning the giant screen (4 X 5 meters) for the public are being set up.
Yesterday, the athletes went diving in the sea in the morning. On the dive site, Alcyone, the famous Cousteau team’s ship was on site. We visited the floating legend together with Francine Cousteau and George Kern, the president of IWC who sponsors the event and the Cousteau’s team. In the afternoon, they went to train in “Les Thermes Marin”, the luxurious spa. There, Frederic Lemaitre did some physiological testing on the guys during their static’s. No big performances, as to be expected, just fine tuning technique!
During the event committee meeting, the rules were detailed and some minor changes in the countdown procedure were agreed with all the athletes.
The athletes all look at each other wondering who will be “the one”. The general atmosphere is very friendly and this new competition’s format seems to motivate the athletes, but you can see that somewhere, they are expecting a trip in the unknown.
Today, the athletes will start practicing in the competition pool ready for the competition tonight.
So now, we just have to wait for the show to begin to know who will be the winner of the trophies designed by Gerard Pettiti and all the other prizes. Stay tuned on DeeperBlue.net for the results and the pictures of the show!