Nicholas Lawrence Mevoli III (August 22, 1981 – November 17, 2013) was an American

freediver 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- ...

who died while attempting to set an American record at the

Vertical Blue Vertical Blue is a freediving competition which has been held annually in The Bahamas at Dean's Blue Hole since April 2008 by freediving world record holder William Trubridge. It is an AIDA International or CMAS in 2021 judged competition and ha ...

competition at

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 water ...

the 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 ...

Early life

Mevoli was born in

Dunedin, Florida Dunedin is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. The name comes from ''Dùn Èideann'', the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Dunedin is part of the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater metropolitan area and is ...

, and lived in

Williamsburg, Brooklyn Williamsburg is a Neighborhoods in Brooklyn, neighborhood in the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn, bordered by Greenpoint, Brooklyn, Greenpoint to the north; Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, Bedford–Stuyvesant to the s ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. He worked as a prop technician in the film and television industry in New York, including on

The CW ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

series ''

Gossip Girl ''Gossip Girl'' is an American teen drama television series based on the novel series of the same name written by Cecily von Ziegesar. The series, developed for television by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, ran on The CW network for six sea ...

'' and the

Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy programming ...

series ''

Chappelle's Show ''Chappelle's Show'' is an American sketch comedy television series created by comedians Dave Chappelle and Neal Brennan, with Chappelle hosting the show and starring in the majority of its sketches. Chappelle, Brennan, and Michele Armour were th ...

''. He was also an actor, technician and writer with Rising Sun Performance Company, and starred in the 2004 independent film ''Exist''. Mevoli began free-diving competitively in early 2012. He won titles twice at the Deja Blue competition and finished third at the Caribbean Cup in

Roatán Roatán () is an island in the Caribbean, about off the northern coast of Honduras. It is located between the islands of Utila and Guanaja, and is the largest of the Bay Islands of Honduras. The island was formerly known in English as Ruatan ...

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 ...

. He achieved an American record in the Caribbean Cup on May 27, 2013, with a dive to 100 meters in the

Constant Weight Constant weight (CWT) is a freediving discipline recognised by AIDA, the International Association for the Development of Apnea, in which the freediver descends and ascends using their monofin and/or with the use of their arms without pulling on t ...

(CWT) category. He finished third in the

Constant Weight Without Fins Constant weight without fins (CNF) is an AIDA International (International Association for Development of Apnea) freediving discipline in which the freediver descends and ascends by swimming without the use of fins or without pulling on the rope ...

(CNF) category at the free-diving world championships in Greece in September 2013.

Death

On November 15, 2013, Mevoli attempted to reach a depth of in the

Free Immersion Free immersion (FIM) is an AIDA International freediving discipline in which the freediver dives under water without the use of propulsion equipment, but only by pulling on the rope during descent and ascent. Performances may be done ''head first' ...

(FIM) category at Vertical Blue, but had to turn back at after suffering an

upper respiratory squeeze Barotrauma is physical damage to body tissues caused by a difference in pressure between a gas space inside, or contact with, the body and the surrounding gas or liquid. The initial damage is usually due to over-stretching the tissues in tens ...

. Two days later, Mevoli attempted a CNF dive to on a single breath. He began to turn back at , but appeared to change his mind and dived downward again. Mevoli returned to the surface after 3 minutes and 38 seconds underwater, but fell backward into the ocean and lost consciousness. Safety divers and the event physician attempted to revive Mevoli, whose pulse disappeared. After

resuscitation Resuscitation is the process of correcting physiological disorders (such as lack of breathing or heartbeat) in an acutely ill patient. It is an important part of intensive care medicine, anesthesiology, trauma surgery and emergency medicine. W ...

efforts had continued for 90 minutes, he was transported to

Vid Simms Memorial Health Center __NOTOC__ Vid or VID may refer to: In linguistics * VID, the Sanskrit root of Vidya, meaning "to know" and related to "veda". * "vid", Eye dialect spelling of "with" * Vid (given name), Slavic given name In mythology * Vid or Svetovid (Sva ...

, reportedly suffering from

pulmonary edema Pulmonary edema, also known as pulmonary congestion, is excessive edema, liquid accumulation in the parenchyma, tissue and pulmonary alveolus, air spaces (usually alveoli) of the lungs. It leads to impaired gas exchange and may cause hypoxemia an ...

. Mevoli died at 1:44 p.m. He was the first athlete to die in an international free-diving competition. ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' published a photograph of a visibly distressed Mevoli taken just after his return to the surface from his last dive and shortly before he lost consciousness. Some readers questioned the ethics of publishing the photograph.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mevoli, Nicholas 1981 births 2013 deaths American freedivers American male film actors Respiratory disease deaths in the Bahamas Deaths from pulmonary edema Male actors from New York City People from Dunedin, Florida People from Williamsburg, Brooklyn Sport deaths in the Bahamas Sportspeople from Brooklyn Sportspeople from Florida Underwater diving deaths