Association Internationale pour le Développement de l'Apnée (AIDA) (English: ''International Association for the Development of Apnea'') is a worldwide rule- and record-keeping body for competitive breath holding events, also known as

freediving Freediving, free-diving, free diving, breath-hold diving, or skin diving is a form of underwater diving that relies on breath-holding until resurfacing rather than the use of breathing apparatus such as scuba gear. Besides the limits of breath-h ...

. It sets standards for safety, comparability of Official World Record attempts and freedive education. AIDA International is the parent organization for national clubs of the same name.

History

AIDA was founded November 2, 1992 in

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

by Frenchmen Roland Specker,

Loïc Leferme Loïc Leferme (28 August 1970 – 11 April 2007) was a French diver who was the world free diving record holder until 2 October 2005, when he was surpassed by Herbert Nitsch. Loic was also a founder of AIDA in 1990 with Roland Specker and Claude ...

and Claude Chapuis, with Specker as its first President. The AIDA Competitions started to take form in 1993. National clubs begin to form over all Europe in 1994–1995. AIDA became AIDA International in 1999. * In 1999 Sébastien Nagel, of Switzerland, replaced Roland Specker as the President. * Bill Strömberg, of Sweden, replaced Sébastien Nagel as President in 2005. * Kimmo Lahtinen, of Finland, replaced Bill Strömberg as President in December 2009. * Carla Sue Hanson, of USA, replaced Kimmo Lahtinen as President in 2016. * Alexandru Russu, of Romania, replaced Carla Sue Hanson as President in 2020.

AIDA World Championships

History of AIDA World Championships:

Team

* 1996: First AIDA Team World Championship in

, for national teams * 1998: Second AIDA Team World Championship,

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

* 2001: Third AIDA Team World Championship,

Ibiza Ibiza (natively and officially in ca, Eivissa, ) is a Spanish island in the Mediterranean Sea off the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. It is from the city of Valencia. It is the third largest of the Balearic Islands, in Spain. Its l ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

* 2004: Fourth AIDA Team World Championship,

Vancouver, British Columbia Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

* 2006: Fifth AIDA Team World Championship,

Hurghada Hurghada (; ar, الغردقة ', ) is a city in the Red Sea Governorate of Egypt. It is one of the country's main tourist centres located on the Red Sea coast. Overview Hurghada was founded in the early 20th century. For many decades it wa ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

* 2008: Sixth AIDA Team World Championship,

Sharm el-Sheikh Sharm El Sheikh ( ar, شرم الشيخ, ), commonly abbreviated to Sharm, is an Egyptian city on the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula, in South Sinai Governorate, on the coastal strip along the Red Sea. Its population is approximately 53,670 ...

. * 2010: Seventh AIDA Team World Championship,

Okinawa is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi). Naha is the capital and largest city ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

* 2012: Eighth AIDA Team World Championship,

* 2014: Ninth AIDA Team World Championship,

Cagliari Cagliari (, also , , ; sc, Casteddu ; lat, Caralis) is an Italian municipality and the capital of the island of Sardinia, an autonomous region of Italy. Cagliari's Sardinian name ''Casteddu'' means ''castle''. It has about 155,000 inhabitant ...

* 2016: Tenth AIDA Team World Championship,

Kalamata Kalamáta ( el, Καλαμάτα ) is the second most populous city of the Peloponnese peninsula, after Patras, in southern Greece and the largest city of the homonymous administrative region. As the capital and chief port of the Messenia reg ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

Individual

* 2005: AIDA Individual World Championship,

Villefranche-sur-Mer Villefranche-sur-Mer (, ; oc, Vilafranca de Mar ; it, Villafranca Marittima ) is a resort town in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region on the French Riviera and is located south-west of the Principality of ...

* 2007: AIDA Individual World Championship,

* 2009: AIDA Individual World Championship,

Dean's Blue Hole __NOTOC__ Dean's Blue Hole is a blue hole located in The Bahamas in a bay west of Clarence Town on Long Island and is the world's second deepest, after the Dragon Hole in the South China Sea, with a depth of . Formation A blue hole is a wat ...

Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to ...

. * 2011: AIDA Individual World Championship,

* 2013: AIDA Depth World Championship,

* 2015: AIDA Depth World Championship,

Limassol Limassol (; el, Λεμεσός, Lemesós ; tr, Limasol or ) is a city on the southern coast of Cyprus and capital of the district with the same name. Limassol is the second largest urban area in Cyprus after Nicosia, with an urban population ...

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...

* 2016: AIDA Pool World Championship,

Turku Turku ( ; ; sv, Åbo, ) is a city and former capital on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River, in the region of Finland Proper (''Varsinais-Suomi'') and the former Turku and Pori Province (''Turun ja Porin lääni''; ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

* 2017: AIDA Depth World Championship, Roatan,

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...

* 2018: AIDA Pool World Championship,

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

* 2019: AIDA Depth World Championship, Villefranche sur Mer,

* 2021: AIDA Depth World Championship,

Qualifications and certifications

AIDA has a star system for grading its freediving certifications:

Freedive Freediving, free-diving, free diving, breath-hold diving, or skin diving is a form of underwater diving that relies on breath-holding until resurfacing rather than the use of breathing apparatus such as scuba gear. Besides the limits of breath-h ...

certifications * AIDA 1 Star Freediver, 8m CWT, 1'15" STA, 25m DYN. * AIDA 2 Star Freediver, 12m CWT, 2' STA, 40m DYN. * AIDA 3 Star Freediver, 24m CWT, 2'45" STA, 55m DYN. * AIDA 4 Star Freediver, 32m CWT, 3'30" STA, 70m DYN. Speciality certifications * Competition Safety Freediver. * Competition Freediver. * Deep Tank Freediver. * Monofin Freediver. AIDA has 3 levels of Instructor qualifications and certifications: Instructor certifications * AIDA Instructor, can teach up to 3 Star Freediver. * AIDA Master Instructor, can teach up to 4 Star Freediver. * AIDA Instructor Trainer, can teach all levels, and instructors.

Records

AIDA recognized world records as of March 28, 2022.

Pool Disciplines

The AIDA recognized pool disciplines are static apnea (STA) and three separate

dynamic apnea Dynamic apnea is a discipline of competitive freediving, also known as competitive apnea. Dynamic apnea covers two of the eight competitive freediving categories recognised by the AIDA International (International Association for Development of Ap ...

disciplines. Dynamic With Fins which is done with

monofin A monofin is a type of swimfin typically used in underwater sports such as finswimming, free-diving and underwater orienteering. It consists of a single or linked control surface (fluid dynamics), surfaces attached to both of the diver's feet, ...

s usually but bifins are also allowed, Dynamic With Bifins which uses bifins, and Dynamic Without Fins does not allow fins to be used and divers usually use

breast stroke Breaststroke is a swimming style in which the swimmer is on their chest and the torso does not rotate. It is the most popular recreational style due to the swimmer's head being out of the water a large portion of the time, and that it can be s ...

s and wall-kicks for propulsions.

Sea Disciplines

References

External links

* {{Authority control Underwater sports organizations Freediving Underwater diving training organizations Diver organizations