Enzo Maiorca

Enzo Majorca (born June 21, 1931) is an Italian free diver, holding several world records. He was born in Syracuse, Sicily.

Personal

Majorca is a vegetarian.

Freediving

Majorca learned to swim at age 4 and soon began to dive, although expressing a great fear of the sea. In 1956 a friend showed him an article about a new depth record of 41 meters set by spearfishing champions Ennio Falco and Alberto Novelli. Majorca was led by the article to begin competing in order to achieve the title of "man who reaches the deepest. He achieved this in 1960, when he reached 45 meters to beat Brazilian Americo Santarelli. However that same year, Santarelli reclaimed the title by reaching 46 meters, which Majorca soon surpassed at 49 meters.

In 1967 Majorca ceased spearfishing, while still competing in freediving. He explained in an interview how he abandoned spearfishing:

"It all happened suddenly. I was diving in the shallows not far from the cape that reaches out to the open sea south of the bay of Syracuse. That morning I happened to spear a grouper. A strong and combative grouper. On the bottom a real titanic struggle broke out, between me who wanted to take its life and the grouper who tried to save itself. The grouper was caught in a cavity between two rocks, trying to understand its, I ran my right hand down the fish's belly. Its heart was pounding in terror, mad with fear. And with that pulsing of blood I realized that I was killing a living being. Since then my speargun lies like a derelict, an archaeological item, in the dusty basement of my house. That was in 1967."

On 22 September 1974, in the Bay of Ieranto (or 'Jeranto') at the Western end of the Gulf of Salerno, Majorca attempted to establish a new world record for freediving, aiming for 90 meters. The event was televised live, for the first time in the history of RAI (the Italian national broadcaster). Just 6 meters into his dive, Majorca bumped into Enzo Bottesini, an expert scuba instructor, and upon resurfacing he let out a string of strong expletives, many of which were clearly audible to the television audience. His outburst led to a television ban for many years, and led to his retirement from competition for over a decade.

In 1988, on the occasion of his daughters Patrizia and Rossana (both known for freediving world records), Maiorca returned to freediving to take his final record of 101 meters.

Maiorca's main rivals were the Brazilian Amerigo Santarelli (who retired from the sport in 1963), Teteke Williams, Robert Croft and Jacques Mayol.

Post-diving

From 1994 to 1996, he was elected to the Senate for the Alleanza Nazionale party. Majorca also appeared on Lineablu, a RAI broadcast news series, from 2000 to 2002.

Prizes

Variable buoyancy

3

Constant weight

3

Awards

• Gold Medal of the President of the Republic (1964) for athletic prowess
• Ustica Golden Trident
• CONI's Literary Award for his book "Headlong into the blue" (1976)
• Sport merits Gold Star from CONI
• Gold Medal of Merit Marina (not only for sports but also for the defense of the environment, 2006).
• His 80th birthday was celebrated in La Spezia with the conferring of the Award of the Maritime Festival.

Bibliography

Majorca is the author of several books:

• A headlong into the blue: the life and business of a world record. Milan, ed. Murcia, 1977.
• School apnea. Rome, ed. Cuba, 1982.
• The Sea with a capital S. Lights, 2001.
• Under the sign of Tanit, Milan, Murcia, 2011 ISBN 9788842548799

Film and music

• Majorca co-starred as himself, in the film Challenge on the Bottom, directed in 1975 by Melchiade Coletti.
• The match between Maiorca and Jacques Mayol inspired the fim Le Grand Bleu, by Luc Besson. Dated 1988 The Big Blue, the movie was shown in Italy only in 2002 due to Maiorca's objections. Recognizing his own caricature in the character of Enzo Molinari, Majorca considered his appearance detrimental to his image. After the death (2001) of Jacques Mayol and Maiorca's retirement from competitions, he relented, and the film was shown.
• Quoted by the protagonist of the film I Am Self Sufficient (1976) by Nanni Moretti
• Mentioned in the song "The Ballad of Cimino" by Davide Van de Sfroos
• Cited by the plaintiff Guido Nickel in the film Monte Carlo Grand Casino

Sources

• Dialogue on 50 years of television among Marino Bartoletti and Paul Limits (3rd chapter). TV Smiles and Canzoni.com, 7 January 2004. Retrieved on November 24, 2010.
• card activity to the Senate
• Umberto Veronesi, Towards the vegetarian choice, Giunti Editore, 2011, p. 8. ISBN 978-88-09-76687-7
• Quoted in Lawrence Guadagnucci, Remain Animals, Terre di mezzo, Milan, 2012, p. 72. ISBN 978-88-6189-224-8

External links

• Official website