Enzo Maiorca

Enzo Maiorca (1931 to 2016) was an Italian free diver from Syracuse, Sicily, who held several world freediving records. He took up the sea as a boy who feared it, and after reading in 1956 of a new depth record set by spearfishing champions he set out to become the man who reached the deepest. He reached 45 metres in 1960 to take the title from the Brazilian Amerigo Santarelli, and traded the record with him that year until he passed 49 metres. He gave up spearfishing in 1967 after spearing a grouper and feeling its heart pound in terror, but kept competing as a freediver. A televised record attempt off Salerno in 1974 ended with a shouted outburst after he collided with a scuba instructor, which led to a long television ban and more than a decade away from competition. He returned in 1988 and set his last record at 101 metres. His rivalry with Jacques Mayol inspired the film The Big Blue, in which the character Enzo Molinari is based on him. He later served in the Italian Senate and helped establish the Plemmirio marine reserve near Syracuse.