Natalia was never found. In the summer of 2015, she arrived at Formentera, a small island near Ibiza, to give three young people a free diving lesson. On August 2, the girl dived to a depth very small for her and did not swim out. The search lasted four days, helicopters and underwater robots were involved, but all to no avail. The most titled freediving champion Natalya Molchanova, whose record no one has been able to beat so far, has remained forever in her beloved blue sea.
How Natalia became a swimmer
Natalya loved sports since childhood. But a case brought her to the pool - as a child, Natalia’s sister, Rina, nearly drowned during a family vacation on the river. After the incident, the parents enrolled their daughters in the swimming section. This determined the fate of Molchanova.
She was easy to learn, swimming a 25-meter pool for Natalia was not difficult. In the section, the girl was the leader. After graduating from school, she entered the Academy of Physical Education and Sports in Volgograd. I participated in competitions, and there I met Oleg. The young man was engaged in swimming not professionally, rather, for health, but Natalia’s heart was subdued.
The marriage lasted only ten years
During this time, Natalia Molchanova gave birth to two children, a boy and a girl. Daughter Oksana was not interested in swimming. But son Alex went in the footsteps of the famous mother. Natalya enthusiastically worked as a children's coach and did not notice how her husband became interested in another woman.
Oleg left the family after ten years of marriage. Natalya was going through a difficult divorce. Left with two children in her arms, she clutched at any work to feed them. For three years the woman was depressed.
Article about freediving
Once Natalya came across a magazine with an article about freediving. The author so realistically and vividly described his feelings and emotions during the dive that the woman got into an idea and already in 2002 flew to Egypt for diving courses. She was 40 years old.
The first lesson caused unrealistic delight, and she realized that she would remain in freediving forever. She showed phenomenal abilities - already at the end of the ten-day course, Natalya dived to a depth of forty meters! It was just an unrealistic achievement for a beginner.
For information, freediving is an extreme sport. Swimmers dive without scuba gear, just holding their breath. This is considered a rather dangerous sport that kills hundreds of lives every year.
Over the next thirteen years, Natalia set two Russian records and forty-two (!) World records. Participating in his first competition in 2003 - the Open Cup of Moscow - Molchanova swam 142 meters underwater with one breath. And she set a second record when she held her breath for 5 minutes 39 seconds. The organizers of the cup were shocked by such results.
Natalia was offered to participate in an international competition in Cyprus. There, the athlete received a prize from Freediver magazine - after swimming 150 meters, she repeated the world record. Natalya became a champion and for all subsequent years took first places in the competition, updating records.
