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CNN World Report

Deborah Andollo and Her Uncanny Gift

Aired April 29, 2001 - 14:35   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SHIHAB RATTANSI, CNN ANCHOR: Free diving has been practiced since the third century B.C., mostly for military or commercial purposes. But now, more and more people are trying it for pleasure. And, by many accounts, it's a dangerous sport.

Cubavision TV introduces us to a woman diver who can free dive more than 100 meters on one breath. This exceeds the depth most World War II submarines could descend before imploding. Here's the amazing story of Deborah Andollo.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AMARILLAS OTTA, CUBAVISION TV CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is the kingdom of (UNINTELLIGIBLE). This is the home of millions of species. The depths, however, are prohibited from humans who cannot normally survive in them.

This is a Cuban family, a happy couple with its little 2-year-old child. This is deep sea diver Deborah Andollo, a young mother with special skills that allow her to get into the silent underwater world without artificial breathing.

DEBORAH ANDOLLO, DEEP SEA DIVER (through translator): I think this was a special gift that God and nature gave me. I can say I was born with that gift, many other people don't know about it.

OTTA: Deborah has been practicing deep-sea diving for ten years; her relationship with the ocean began when she was very young. At three, she learned how to swim, following an incident in which she might have lost her life.

Perhaps, that is one reason why she challenges the forecast of physiologists, who use to say that humans could not dive deeper than 15 meters without artificial help. Deborah has achieved unimaginable depths with minimal difficulty.

65 meters in the modality of constant-ballast, 95 with variable ballast on the previous rules, and 115 meters with variable ballast/no limits, all of them world records.

ANDOLLO (through translator): Deep sea diving is a very healthy sport. It helps the mind endure self-esteem, so I can say that deep sea diving is not only for world champions. OTTA: It is also, however, a very dangerous sport. In each effort, Deborah is accompanied by a team of divers who watch and control her at different depths. If they act quickly at an event, they can save her life. She doesn't know the risk she running, due to her deep concentration. In December of 1999, she miraculously escaped death after an accident.

ANDOLLO (through translator): I got over it very well and I think that I can be proud of it, but at the beginning, it was hard; it was very traumatic for me.

OTTA: Deborah says that it is important to demand respect for the ocean, which can be very hostile at times. And to which, she continually gives (UNINTELLIGIBLE) as a ritual.

ANDOLLO (through translator): I think that daily life is full of a lot of rituals, but in my case before diving, I had thrown seven Cuban nickels into the ocean. This never fails, no matter where I am, in the Mediterranean or anywhere else.

OTTA: Though many people say this is basically a masculine sport, it is known that, in the third century B.C., there were girls who dived 20 meters who collect (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Cuban deep-sea diver Deborah Andollo is determined to vindicate those girls, and has proven to be as capable and brave as any man.

This is Amarillas Otta, from Cubavision International, for CNN WORLD REPORT.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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