Master Freediver Olga Novokshchenova (Russia) has won her second gold medal at the Olympic games in Athens! A member of the Russian synchronized swimming team for the past three games, Olga had won the gold in Sydney and has now doubled the feat four years later, the only repeating member of the team, a testament to her talent and dedication. FREE Master Instructor and multiple World Champion David Lee was in Athens supporting Olga personally, while the rest of our team followed closely her progress on TV. With only two teams to go, the Japanese swimmers performed a seemingly unbeatable routine, leaving everybody feeling that silver was not a bad thing after all. However, when Olga and her teammates got in the water, it was clear what their intentions were, and their routine earned them a total score of 99.501 points out of a possible 100, securing the victory.

After 8 months of 9-hour training days, 6 days a week, Olga is taking a well deserved rest, but is already getting ready to dive deep into her other passion, freediving. She had passed both the Advanced and Master courses in 2003, managing to set a national record along the way, which prompted trainer Rudi Castineyra to offer her a spot on the LearnFreediving.com team, which she happily accepted. Olga will be preparing for a world record attempt together with David Lee and Yasemin Dalkilic in the following months. Congratulations Olga!!!