Déborah Andollo López

From an early age, she began practicing swimming, moving to synchronized swimming at 11 years old, and was a member of the national team. Later she dedicated herself to the practice of freediving, where she obtained 16 world records. She has won important national and international awards. Currently she is the President of the Cuban Federation of Underwater Activities, FCAS.

She was born on May 9, 1967, in Havana, where she currently lives. She is married to Frenchman Eric Testi, who serves the dual role of safety diver and father of Ernesto, their son born in 1999, who since two months of age has made increasingly bold ocean expeditions. Deborah has privileged lungs and Olympic willpower, which enabled her to set sixteen world records. She has won important awards at the national and international level.

In addition to freediving, she is very interested in ecology, music, dance, and especially animals. She has a parrot, a tortoise, three cats, and seven dogs.

From age four she began practicing swimming, at 11 she moved to synchronized swimming, a discipline she practiced for 12 years, of which 8 she was a member of the national team and four of those years she was team captain.

Synchronized Swimming, that beautiful sport that many compare to ballet, provided her first sports successes, winning several times the following events:

* Cuba Cups.
* The Loano Sincro Cup in Italy, in 1986.
* The Mallorca Sincro Cup in Spain, in 1986, 1987 and 1988.
* Central American Champion from 1985 to 1990.
* Champion of the Pan American Games in 1991.

The athlete's greatest satisfaction was obtaining the bronze medal at the Pan American Games in 1991, held in Havana. After those Games, it seemed her athletic career would end, as retirement was approaching, but she discovered freediving in apnea in 1992, when she began working as a model for underwater photography, winning the Award for Best Model at the Atlantic Underwater Imaging Week, held on the island of La Palma, in the Canary Islands.

Relevant Results:

Modalities of freediving in apnea

* Freediving: The diver descends and ascends, aided only by the rope that marks the set depth.

* Constant Weight: The diver descends and ascends with a heavy belt, propelled by the force of their legs, without touching the rope.

* Variable Weight: One descends on a kind of sled, whose mandatory weight is approximately 30% of the diver's body weight, who returns to the surface aided by the rope with the force of their arms.

* No Limits: The diver descends likewise in a metal frame, but ascends propelled by an air balloon.

World Records by Déborah Andollo

* 40 m freediving - May 1992, Varadero, Cuba
Deborah andollo.jpg

* 50 m freediving - May 1992, Varadero, Cuba.

* 60 m constant weight - November 1992, Isle of Youth, Cuba.

* 52 m freediving - May 1993, Varadero, Cuba.

* 61 m constant weight - June 1993, Cayo Largo del Sur, Cuba.

* 80 m variable weight - February 1994, Isle of Youth, Cuba.

* 60 m freediving - May 1994, Isle of Youth, Cuba.

* 85 m variable weight - November 1995, Isle of Youth, Cuba.

* 110 m No Limits - May 1996, Isle of Youth, Cuba.

* 62 m constant weight - October 1996, Sardinia, Italy.

* 90 m variable weight - July 1997, Sardinia, Italy.

* 65 m constant weight - December 1997, Isle of Youth, Cuba.

* 95 m variable weight - July 2000, Parghelia, Italy.

* 115 m No Limits - July 2000, Parghelia, Italy.

* 74 m freediving - July 2001, Isle of Youth, Cuba (Absolute World Record).

* 100 m variable weight - July 2002, Island of Giglio, Italy.

Recognition

* Elected among the Ten Best Athletes of the Year in Cuba during 1996 and 1997.

* Special mentions in the years 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995 and 2000.

* Chosen as Best Diver in the World and winner of the Oscar of the Marine World, in the Italian city of Anzio, in 1996.

* Selected as Best Diver of the Year by readers of Acua Magazine, in the Italian city of Bologna, in 1997.

* Declared Guest of Honor of the European Parliament in Luxembourg in 1996.

* Chosen among the 100 best Cuban athletes of the 20th Century.

Retirement from Active Sports

In 2002 she retired from active sports. Currently she is the President of the Cuban Federation of Underwater Activities FCAS, carrying out different activities. She organizes a Diving and Apnea Academy, in which she teaches courses for all interested parties, including children, under the philosophy of learning to live in harmony with nature. The champion collaborates in the Sibarimar Project, with a group of volunteers committed to the defense and sustainable management of Sibarimar Cove, on the beaches east of Havana, and also collaborates in the Acualina Environmental Education Project directed by Dr. Angela Corvea.

Andollo, 51 years old, is the owner of 16 world records in all four modalities of apnea freediving. She initiated the movement of this sport in Cuba, but to date new figures have not come close to her results.

Deborah has been married since 1995 to Frenchman Eric Testi, an indispensable person for his support who acted as her safety diver and professional photographer. From this marriage they have a son named Ernesto and a daughter named Olivia.

For years she has been a sports director in Cozumel. She devoted seven years to sports management, training coaches, and preparing athletes in formative and high-performance stages, in the specialties of swimming and apnea.