www.euronews.com At first glance Alain Richioud from the French city of Lyon looks just like anyone else, but he has a rare talent for apnea, which means holding your breath. Last May at the French free diving championships he won the static apnea competition by remaining under water without breathing for seven minutes and 15 seconds. The current world champion, Stephan Mifsud, remained underwater for 11 minutes and 35 seconds. Alain, who started free diving seven years ago with a small club in Lyon explained static apnea: "Dynamic apnea is controlling physical effort and with static apnea it's about relaxation. It's a real sport, and I was a rugby player, but I like this sport. You learn a lot about yourself anyway. I don't know if it's apnea which lets you learn or the work that goes alongside it, notably sophrology which is the mental work we do to overcome obstacles. So it does involve introspection, even if you're not looking for that, it's what you discover as you go along. You learn about yourself." Next November, Alain will be part of the French national team competing in the European Apnea Championships in Turkey. So should this be considered an extreme sport? We asked former world-champion Umberto Pelizzari, whose records occupy a whole page in the sport's history books. Umberto Pelizzari told euronews: "In apnea, you don't breathe, that's why we are led to believe that apnea is something for supermen, for people who want to go beyond their limits. It's a sport ...
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