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:

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.