Click Bait | Deep Water Ep5
12/9/202529 min
An anti-doping officer tells Lydia that drugs are only considered a problem in freediving on social media, and in podcasts. She learns the problem is bigger, and more complex, and more corrupt, than she realised.
Subscribe to Observer+ on Apple Podcasts and Spotify to binge listen to the entire series on Tuesday 18th November.
To find out more about The Observer:
Subscribe to TheObserver+ on Apple Podcasts for early access and ad-free content
Head to our website observer.co.uk
Reporter - Lydia Gard
Pr...
Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsLydia Gard· Host0:00
[gentle music] The Observer.
Sam Xenophou· Guest0:05
I remember I was just sitting on my sofa, just watching morning TV. I always watch a little bit before I start work and go on my Instagram, and I saw the clip, and to be honest with you, it, it kind of turned my stomach a little bit.
Lydia Gard· Host0:25
On the 19th of September, Sam Xenophou was sitting at home getting ready for work. She's a Greek pool and depth diver living in the UK. I'm months into my investigation. The CMAS World Championships have just drawn to a close in Greece, and in the aftermath of the competition, many free divers continue to post beautiful underwater shots, reels of their competition dives. They're smiling and crying at the surface as they receive a white card from the judges to indicate a successful dive. And as Sam's scrolling through these reels, an image pops up that stops her dead.
Sam Xenophou· Guest1:01
I saw Petar coming up from a deep dive. There's a lot of frothing, bloody frothing coming out of his mouth. He is, like, in a very bad state after the deep dive. He obviously hurt himself diving.
Lydia Gard· Host1:19
It's an extremely hard thing to watch. The video is a compilation of clips of Petar Clover posted in collaboration with Vitomir Maracic