Natalia Molchanova
Natalia Molchanova at the 2009 Freediving World Championships
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| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born |
8 May 1962 Ufa, Bashkortostan, Soviet Union |
| Died | 2 August 2015 (aged 53) Ibiza, Spain |
| Residence | Moscow |
| Sport | |
| Sport | Freediving |
| Club | Krokodil, Moscow |
Natalia Vadimovna Molchanova (Russian: Наталья Вадимовна Молчанова; 8 May 1962 – 2 August 2015) was a Russian champion free diver, multiple world record holder, and the former president of the Russian Free Dive Federation. She has been described as "possibly the world’s greatest freediver".
On 2 August 2015 she went missing during a recreational dive, and is presumed to be dead after search efforts were abandoned on 5 August.
Molchanova was born in 1962 in Ufa, Bashkortostan, then part of the Soviet Union. Molchanova had a son Alexey and daughter Oksana.
Molchanova was the world's most decorated free diver ever, holding 41 world records at the time of her presumed death and winning 23 gold medals during her lengthy career. At the 2007 Freediving World Championships in Maribor, Slovenia, her winning time in the static discipline was better than the winning male gold medal. In September 2009, she became the first woman to pass 100 meters (328 ft.) diving with constant weight, in a dive to 101 meters (331 ft.) in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt. Molchanova was also the first woman to dive on one breath through the Blue Hole arch in Dahab, Egypt. Her record was a dive of 127 metres (417 ft.).
She first trained in swimming, but semi-retired for approximately 20 years after giving birth. She resumed training, aged 40, and shifted from swimming to free diving. Her first free diving competition was the 2003 Russian championships in Moscow, where she set a national record. Her son is also a prominent free diving competitor. Molchanova later worked as a free diving instructor at the Russian State University of Physical Education, Sport, Youth and Tourism.
On 2 August 2015, she was reported missing after a recreational dive near Ibiza, Spain. She went down to a depth of 40 metres (131 ft.), not as deep as normal, but caught by a current, without weights, she is thought to have been taken down. She never came up for air. Initial rescue and recovery efforts were unsuccessful. As of 4 August, search and rescue efforts continued, but she was presumed dead by the search party, including her son Alexey Molchanov.
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