FREEDIVE magazine
ISSUE 01 | JANUARY 2014
JEANINE GRASMEIJER
WORLD RECORD DIVE
Natural talent in freediving is rarely seen. Usually it takes many
years of intense training to become a world champion and in
most cases, it’s a full time job. But for Jeanine Grasmeijer of the
Netherlands, it took only twenty months whilst also studying
full time for a medical degree. Not only that but at just twenty
years old, she was the youngest female world record holder in
freediving history.
In her first introductory static session in January 2012, she held
her breath for an impessive 5 minutes. Within just months of being
introduced to freediving, she had taken both the Free Immersion
and Static national records. The following year she spent eight
weeks training in Dahab. It was here where she entered her
third depth competition and nailed an 80 metre Free Immersion
dive, putting her fourth in the world ranking for that discipline.
A month later, she took the world record in Free Immersion with
an incredible dive to 90 metres, beating the queen of freediving,
Natalia Molchanova’s dive to 88 metres three years earlier. Whilst
other top athletes spend hours training in the pool to maintain an
athletic body and high stamina, focusing on a very specific diet,
Jeanine only trains two or three times a week and continues to eat
whatever she likes.
90m FIM
Not to mention her ability to equalise to such depths without
much training. There are a lot of different factors that have to click
to be able to dive deep: relaxation, equalisation, mental strength,
a good breath hold and a good level of fitness, but with a breath
hold of over 7 minutes, Jeanines’s limited muscle power does not
pose a problem for her as her body can cope with long dive times.
Her mental strength and ability to relax and equalise at such great
depths is exceptional after such a short time.
Her talents don’t just stop at Free Immersion. At the World
Freediving Championships 2013, Jeanine had rarely trained in the
discipline of Constant Weight with her monofin. Yet she incredibly
managed to pull off an 80 metre dive on her first attempt. She also
had very little training in the discipline of Constant Weight No Fins
before completing an incredible 60 metre dive to win silver in the
World Championships alongside the Ukraine’s Natalia Zharkova.
READ THE INTERVIEW IN ISSUE 1
OF FREEDIVE Jeanine
MAGAZINE
NOW
was a world record holder
for only ten days before Natalia
So what makes this cake-loving, little trained freediver so talented?
Does her limited muscle power help conserve oxygen? Does her body
naturally use much less oxygen than the average human? Or does she
just have a natural talent for relaxing under pressure?
JEANINE GRASMEIJER
INTERVIEW
Molchanova took her world record back with a Free Immersion
dive to 91 metres at the World Freediving Championships 2013.
On the same day Jeanine announced 94 metres but turned early
at 80 metres due to equalisation problems. It was an incredible
dive from both athletes but with Jeanine’s departure back to
the Netherlands to take up her second year at University, the
freediving world will have to wait until 2014 before we see the
return of one of the most naturally talented freedivers in the
sport.
WATCH THE INTERVIEW IN ISSUE 1 OF FREEDIVE MAGAZINE ON MAGZTER NOW:
www.magzter.com/GB/Freedive-Magazine/Freedive-Magazine/Lifestyle/35292