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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
Politics
Bronwyn Adcock

‘I didn’t even know this was humanly possible’: the woman who can descend into the sea on one breath

Current Australian women's pool and freediving champion, Amber Bourke.
Amber Bourke, who says she got hooked on free diving and wanted to see ‘how deep I could go’, is now the Australian women’s pool and free diving champion. Photograph: David Kelly/The Guardian

Ten years ago, Australian Amber Bourke was in her early 20s and backpacking through Egypt when she discovered something astonishing about herself. In a little village on the Sinai peninsula she came across a place that taught “free diving” – underwater diving without any breathing apparatus – and decided to give it a try.

“I held my breath for four minutes and I dove to 18 metres,” says Bourke, who is the current women’s Australian pool and depth freediving champion. “And both of those things, I didn’t realise was possible.”

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