The career of Cuban breath-hold diver Deborah Andollo exhibits the kind of steep curve that bespeaks star quality. Born in Havana in 1967, the took a degree in Physical Education at Havana University and started out her athletic career in figure swimming in 1979. In 1992 she switched to  breath-held diving and came to the attention of trainer Omar Oramas who could see that the petite Cubana, only 5 foot 4 and 57 kilos but with an impressive 6 liter lung capacity could rise to great depths.
Her very first Constant Ballast dive took her only to a mere 60 meters, but with a duration of 2 minutes, 16 seconds. In 1993, she hit the 80 meter mark in a variable-ballast direct-immersion dive lasting 2 minutes and 50 seconds.A year later, on July 5, 1994, she spent 2 minutes, 24 seconds to get down 61 meters with constant ballast, a women's world record. Then, on May 26, 1995, at Cayo Largo, she did something really unusual, free-diving to a 60 meters without mask or flippers, in two minutes and 52 seconds. (Compare this to Tanya Streeter's current 67 meter world record--set with fins.)
There remained to break the mythical 107 meter Variable Ballast no limits record, set by Angela Bandini back in November 1989. On May 16, 1996 at a spot called Pasaje Escondido, just off Punta  Frances, the Cubana mounted her 31-kilo ballast sled for her world shot. Her descent was linear to a depth of 60 meters, where she slowed to compensate. She reached her base platform in 1 minute and 15 seconds. At 2 minutes, and 15 seconds she was back topside with the new women's world Variable No Limits breath-held record of 110 meters, or approximately 357 feet.
Naturally, many of these records have since been eclipsed. Both Streeter and Audrey Mestre broke the 110 meter mark in the spring of 1998, leaving it at 115. Streeter nudged her out in the Constant Weight records with her 67 meter plunge in 1998. No other woman has gone deeper than 58 meters, and everything in between is just a record of Andollo breaking her own marks in the mid-nineties. Meanwhile, Deborah's name is still on the record books in the Variable Weight category: 90 meters (295 feet), set of Sardegna, Italy, in July of 1997, downtime 2 mins, 27 secs. No other woman has gone over 80 meters. And, whatever marks future divers may set, Sra. Andollo has a permanent position as an all-time, world-wide free diving star and member of the Women Diver's Hall of Fame.
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