Champion undersea diver commits suicide 12/23/01
Record-setting free-dive champion Jacques Mayol, who inspired the film The Big
Blue, committed suicide at his villa on the island of Elba.
Paramilitary police in Capoliveri, say he had taken his own life, but refused
to disclose details.
Italian news reports say a neighbor had found the body after going to check on
him when Mayol didn't answer the phone several times.
The Italian news agency ANSA claim a forensic expert determined Mr. Mayol, known
as the "dolphin man," had died on 22 December.
ANSA said Jacques Mayol's family in Nice, France, were informed by police of the
suicide.
"I saw him the last time in the middle of November, right in his house on
Elba, and he seemed to be down," ANSA quoted Italian diver Umberto Pelizzari
as saying in a telephone interview from Brazil.
Pelizzari, himself a record-setting free diver, said the Frenchman suffered from
depression.
"Whoever loves the sea recognized in Mayol the figure of a courageous and
unique pioneer, thanks to whom was born the beautiful and emotional sporting discipline
that is free diving," diver Gianluca Genoni said.
Mayol was the first free diver to plunge below 330ft in 1976.
In 1983 he quit after setting a record of 345ft.
The 1988 Luc Besson film The Big Blue was inspired by Mayol's rivalry with Italian
champion Enzo Maiorca.