Safety and freediving
Safety and freediving
WC AIDA 2019 : discussion about safety
On the last WC in Villefranche-Sur-Mer, many open discussion were launched about orgaisation, and also about safety during the competition. Good to discuss, but not easier to jump a stair, cause like in every human situation, human being and behavior will be the most difficult to manage.
Indeed, judges and safety apneists are not always on the same wavelength, and the systems of setting up and organization of help are very variable from one country to another, or even from one locality. to another.
The insufflations are also in permanent discussion, and yet it is clear that the insufflation will never be in itself a bad action, even if they can be rendered inneficacious by a laryngospasm (which one is besides today incapable to certify during any syncope).
But there is one thing that I think is not debatable: the precaution and good behavior of the athletes. In fact, when educating future generations, the notion of becoming aware of our actions is an omnipresent subject, constructing an imperfect framework, but if one pays attention to a well care framework.
The freediving world is proving to be a world where very little information is shared by high level athletes about their training, their adpatation and the years needed for it.
Even if the currative (process organisation of the accident) must be irreproachable, it is nonetheless necessary to think about the preventive system, which is nonexistent, including in the guidelines courses offered in the federations.
The temporal priority is given to question how to intervene in case of blackout or OPI, to study these accidents, but little on how to prevent them.
Moreover, emergency services in France have very little information on accidents, especially OPI, since most are not reported during training situations, whatever the structure, professional or associative.
The athlete is an indivdu supposed to be responsible, and the system that surrounds him, in any case in a situation of benevolent development of a sport in growth, and seeing evolving its legislative, medical, technical and educational framework. It is only from studies of existing data, and over a period of time acceptable for an institutional scientific approach, that prevention in our sport can exist and be advanced, and even serve other causes.
