Deborah Andollo

Deborah Andollo Lopez is a Cuban freediver, born in Havana in 1967, who held several world records in different breath-hold diving disciplines. She trained first as a figure swimmer from 1979, earned a degree in physical education at Havana University and turned to breath-held diving in 1992 under the trainer Omar Oramas. In 1994 she set a women's constant ballast record of 61 metres, and on 16 May 1996 she reached 110 metres in the variable ballast no limits discipline off Punta Frances, a dive of about 357 feet that made her the women's record holder. Press accounts credit her with 16 world records in four apnea divisions, and she was named among the 100 best Cuban athletes of the twentieth century. She is the spokesperson of the Blue Yemaya Diving School in Havana, a freediving education programme, and she teaches diving and works on environmental education.