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 dialect, Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department in France. The Nice urban unit, agg ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

by Frenchmen Roland Specker, Loïc Leferme 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 ...

* 2001: Third AIDA Team World Championship, Ibiza,

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 most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. 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 Medit ...

* 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 * 2012: Eighth AIDA Team World Championship,

* 2014: Ninth AIDA Team World Championship, Cagliari,

* 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 regi ...

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 ...

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 Departments of France, department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region on the French Riviera and is l ...

* 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 North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to 88% of the ar ...

. * 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 ge ...

* 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 * 2018: AIDA Pool World Championship, Belgrade,

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hungar ...

* 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 A ...

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 surfaces attached to both of the diver's feet, emulating the fluke of Cetacean ...

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