Costas Kyriacou, Cyprus Diving Champion

Interview of Costa's Kyriacou taken on the day of the national competition (09/04/2005) conducted by Dora Lioliou

Hi Costa. I had a great day today at this contest, I know you must be tired and hungry so lets begin by asking you what kind of work you are into.

To begin with let me thank you for staying here all day to see the contest. As you saw everyone enjoyed themselves. This is not your average sport and its only when you actually come and see the event that you realise that it is unique and fascinating sport. .....My job..... I work for the largest dairy company in Cyprus and this involves getting up very early in the morning, around 4am but i'm fine with this because I finish work around 11 so I sleep a couple of hours say until 1 in the afternoon then I have the whole day in front of me to train.

Can you tell us how you got into this sport in the first place and how it all began.

I was very much into swimming from a young age and as I grew a little older me and my friends would have spear fishing competition on how many fish we could get in a day and offcourse the deeper the water the harder it is but there's more fish in the deep parts of the shore. Then I found out about this sport and by the year 2000 I knew quite a few details about this sport. In the year 2002 it was announced to us that there will be a world free diving and dianamic apnea competition held in Cyprus for 2003. That's when I really got down to working out for this particular sport and in doing this I slowly began to see the sea from a different prospective as far as fishing is concerned and so I sort out to use the sea for my sport instead of killing fish for fun. I do go fishing sometimes but its quite rare. The sea really is an amazing place mostly if you see it from the depths that I go to.

So did you take part in that world competition in 2003?

Yes. I trained quite hard putting in 4-6 hours of training a day. My life since then has really changed as all of this, the training the competitions, all of it has become my life now.

And did you manage to win at any of the contests?

The contests were 4:
1) Free diving (which is seeing how deep you can go and come back up) and takes place in the sea.
2) Dianamic Apnea (which is how many meters you can swim head under, with fins on your feet with a single breath)
3) Dianamic Apnea but bare foot
4) Static Apnea (which is staying still with your head under water for as long as you can)

As it was the first competition held in Cyprus, that contest would have found "the" Cyprus Champions for these 4 different contests. I managed to come 1st in all four. I still hold the Cyprus record for all four. I managed to break my record today at the dianamic apnea which was 125 meters and today I did 149m. I also did the best time in Static Apnea today but because of a silly mistake which I made, having verified that I was ok and then taking my mask off, had me disqualified. The rules are that you come up, take your mask off then verify verbally that you are ok. Never mind, next time. I did get the 1st prize for the Dianamic Apnea having done 149 meters today with a single breath, broke my own record so I can't complain.

So what are you goals for the near future?

I plan to go for the Hellenic competition 2006 which will be held around mid of July. If all goes well then I can move on to the next step! I will give my best for this year then I plan to work from 2007 onwards on professional cycling.

Any 'personal' goals for the future in general?

Personal...ah..I do have actually but I shouldn't really say..........hmmm, anyway my personal goal would be to take the world title in the Dyanamic Apnea and Free Diving. Long way to go!

That is a high goal to set yourself but I am sure you are the kind of person that will follow this dream through. Can you tell us a little about your training?

My training consists of cycling on flat roads of mountain roads for approximately 5 hours. I usually do twice a week on flat roads and twice to the mountains of Trodos. I live in Limassol so it takes about 5 hours to go up to Trodos and back. For flat road cycling I usually go to Larnaca and back or Paphos and back. I do a 3 month summer training at the pool for the Dianamic Apnea and the static and for a month I also incorporate going to the sea and train for the Free Diving.

I didn't realise that the cycling had anything to do with your sport!!?!!

Cycling has a lot to do with my sport because I gain a lot of power on my legs which helps in going to the deep parts fast enough for me to come back up without fainting. I also gain a lot of stamina from cycling.

Have you had any accidents, fainting for example?

Yes, last year there was a European competition which again was held in Cyprus, and my record from 2003 for the free diving was 62 meters and I went for 80 meters for this European cup and managed to faint out on the last few meters coming back up.

God that is drastic!!. Ok, can you tell us what sort of a diet you keep to?

I try to make my diet very simple. This means that in general I use a vegetarian menu but I do eat my meat and eggs and dairy products when I am offered them. But in general I tend to keep to a vegetarian diet. I do take care of how I mix my carbs, proteins etc within the month of any competition. I don't eat excessively in general but I just take care of what I eat and the quantities at the end of the day. I can say that my diet and my training are a great big way of life now.

Do you take supplements at all?

To be honest until a few months back I wasn't taking anything apart from protein. Then I had come across the LA Muscle branch in Cyprus so I asked for advice on what I would need for my specific sport. As a person who had never taken supplements I soon realised that I was an amateur in this field and realised how I could break other records with the help of a few supplements.
I was advised to take Cobra and from my first cycling trip to Larnaca, I called the LA Muscle office while I was still on my way back to Limassol to say that this product was truly amazing. I usually get tired on coming back as opposed to going to Larnaca. I drank Cobra on my way back and you just can't believe that I got all my energy and power back as if i'd just started my training. I also took LA Whey, Explosive Creatine which is a very, very strong product and I also took Sculpt.

Costa I can't believe how much energy you have. You have been here all day with hardly anything to eat all and still you had the patience to sit here for an interview. I would like to thank you for your time and wish you all the best for July in Greece.

Thank you Dora. Its really my pleasure and I am personally happy that you had the chance to see this sport from up close.

Take care.