Something Happened
Posted By Paul Kotik on 5 September 2005
Carlos Coste, my young neighbor from Venezuela ( a distant suburb of Miami, for those of you unfamiliar with the New World floor plan ) has got his due, which nobody can deny: 105 meters, victory by a knockout -sorry, Herbert- and a world record. Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy. Way to go, mi amigo. Next time you come to town for a haircut or supplies, dinner's on me.
There's a lot of blue out there, too. I don't have anything from the deposed royalty, Mr. Stepanek and Ms. Cruickshank. They are both much more mature than I am, despite their tender years, so I don't suppose they're taking it as hard as I would. I'd be in a place where... well, it would ruin my chances of getting elected to public office, let's leave it at that. I'll see Martin soon, when he gets back home to Florida, and trainer Kirk Krack shortly thereafter when he shows up here on the grinding, relentless clinic trail. If I know people, the plans for reconquista are already being formed.
The reign of Carlos and Natalia is already the target of a vast worldwide conspiracy. That's what's so cool about competitive freediving at the world level - the world is a big place.
My prediction: next year, the scene will be dominated by people you haven't even heard of yet. The intake scoop is wide open, and serious athletes, many with world gold in other sports, are fixing a bead on freediving. It had to happen - freediving is the democratic revolution of the athletic world. It is by the athletes, of the athletes and for the athletes. The roar of the crowd is unheard down there where it's cold and squeezy, no Rothmans billboards, no televised glory. It's for us, and that's why year by year, the really serious sports people on this planet are coming in. The megaheart-superlung subspecies of homo sapiens aquaticus.
So, as beautiful and wondrous as the new world records are, I believe they are just the beginning. The middle of the beginning, let's say, not the beginning of the beginning. The pioneering area is over. The new republic is built, and now they will come.
Lance ? You listening ? Got freediving ?
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