Introducing ... Deep Water

Deep Water | Tortoise Investigates

The Observer

True Crime, Society & Culture, Documentary

4.6 • 5.8K Ratings

🗓️ 11 November 2025

⏱️ 4 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Three years ago travel writer Lydia Gard discovered freediving almost by accident. It’s an extreme and beautiful sport defined by one simple objective: to dive as deep as you can on one single breath. Record holders are now routinely diving to more than 120 metres, pushing the sport and their bodies to find out what’s humanly possible.

Through her coach, Lydia was drawn into a small but fanatical community of competition athletes all united in their drive for depth, and that’s where she stumbled on a darker side of the sport. Rumours swirled that a group of top divers were doping to get deeper, faster.

As the community began to turn on each other over the allegations, one prominent diver decided to take the law into his own hands. A secret sting operation was meant to put an end to the problem by bringing the alleged dopers out of the dark, and into the light. But the issue hasn't gone away. And now, a lot of people who’ve been too scared to speak up, are ready to talk.

Episode 1 will be available to listen to on Tuesday 18th November.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	It's kind of like the cartel. You want the Pablo Escobar court, don't you?
0:10.0	This is a story I never expected to be telling. Three years ago I was a travel writer. I was working on a novel in my spare time.
0:20.0	I'd write about yoga retreats and surf destinations, that sort of thing.
0:24.6	I'd never even heard of free diving.
0:27.6	But on one of my trips, almost by accident, it became a calling.
0:32.6	It's a sport with a simple objective, to dive as deep as you can on one single breath.
0:42.1	I only had to try it once and I was hooked.
0:45.0	That feeling of being present in the moment I cannot experience anywhere else.
0:49.6	As long as I could have those beautiful dives, just swimming in a beautiful bay, that's what I live for.
0:56.1	I was drawn into a small but fanatical community of competition athletes, all united in their drive for depth.
1:03.1	Pushing our own limits, the limits of our bodies, and it has...
1:06.7	And that's the addiction for me is to find another level of relaxation that allows me to go deeper.
1:13.7	I spent all of my spare time training with other divers.
1:17.1	And as I got closer to the athletes, I began to hear rumors.
1:21.9	Some of these dives were a bit too good.
1:25.5	There were some performances that were making people think,
1:27.8	wow, this person either is one in 10 million
1:30.2	or something else is happening.
1:32.9	The divers around me were asking questions
1:35.1	about some of the most lauded athletes.
1:38.2	Could they be doping to break world records?
1:41.1	It seemed absurd to me,
	...

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