Natalia Molchanova

“Free diving is not only sport, it’s a way to understand who we are,” Molchanova said in an interview last year. “When we go down if we don’t think, we understand we are whole. We are one with world. When we think we are separate. On surface it is natural to think and we have many information inside. We need to reset sometimes. Free diving helps do that.”

Molchanova was on the faculty of Moscow’s Russian State University of Physical Education, Sport, Youth and Tourism. She ran its free diving program with Alexey. She wrote instructional manuals and a volume of poetry, and commuted around Moscow on a kick scooter.

“She is a force, and having even gotten close to what she’s done was hugely gratifying and a source of pride, and ultimately she’s the one to learn from,” said the American diver Ashley Chapman, one of the few to break one of Molchanova’s records. She did it in the Cayman Islands in 2012 with a dive to 67 meters. Within 24 hours, Molchanova had reclaimed the record — with a dive to 68 meters, on her 50th birthday.
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If Molchanova’s body is not recovered, no one will ever know for sure what happened underwater. By Tuesday night, Alexey had accepted the likelihood that much would remain unknown.

“It seems she’ll stay in the sea,” he said. “I think she would like that.”

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