Dear Natalia: Letters from the Freediving Community
On Natalia Molchanova Memorial Day, athletes, freedivers, and members of the Molchanovs team write to the woman whose ideas, spirit, and love for the water continue to shape freediving today.
Natalia Molchanova’s achievements are permanently written into the history of freediving.
She set 42 world records, received 22 World Championship medals, was the first woman to reach 100m… the list goes on. But records only paint a small picture.
Natalia wasn’t just one of the greatest competitive freedivers of all time. She was an educator, a mother, and a person who helped shape how an entire community understands freediving. Her research and teaching became the foundation of the Molchanovs Freediving Education System, through which her philosophy continues to reach students and instructors around the world.
She taught that freediving shouldn’t be defined by struggle. That depth should arrive in its proper time. That what we feel beneath the surface matters more than the number waiting for us at the end of the rope.
More than a decade after her passing, those lessons remain present – in the manuals freedivers study, the instructors who teach them, the athletes who carry her ideas into competition, and the people who turn to her words when they’ve forgotten why they began.
In honour of Natalia Molchanova Memorial Day, we asked members of our community to write to her.
Some knew her personally. Many never had the opportunity. Yet every one of them has been touched by what she left behind.
These are their letters.
Natalia’s love for freediving continues to move through the community she helped create. Photo credit © @daanverhoevenfreediver.
Mitch Ayres
Molchanovs Athlete
Dear Natalia,
Although we never had the chance to meet, you’ve been part of my freediving journey since the very beginning. Every freediver knows your name, but more importantly, we know the values you left behind.
Through your teaching, your performances, and your stories, I’ve learned that freediving isn’t about chasing depth. It’s about staying calm, making good decisions, respecting the ocean, and understanding yourself.
Whenever training becomes difficult or competition feels overwhelming, I remind myself that the goal is not simply to dive deeper, but to become a better freediver and a better person.
Thank you for inspiring generations of athletes, including someone like me who came to this sport many years after you. Your legacy continues every time we descend the line with curiosity, humility, and respect.
I hope that, in my own way, I can pass those values on to others one day.
Thank you, Natalia.
Zowie Palliaer
Molchanovs Team
Dear Natalia,
Thank you for teaching me to find joy in freediving.
As freedivers, we can become consumed by numbers. We obsess over equalization, meters, personal bests, and all the technical things we think we need to master.
We end up adding even more pressure on ourselves.
Even when we’re not comparing ourselves with other freedivers, we compare ourselves with who we were yesterday. We think about the depths we once reached and wonder why we can’t reach them again.
When I find myself thinking this way, I remind myself to find the joy in diving.
Because if we don’t enjoy it, what’s the point of any of it?
Thank you for teaching me that. I only wish I could have met you.
Amanda Tran
Molchanovs Team
Dear Natalia,
Thank you for showing us all that freediving can be many things to many people.
You demonstrated that dedication, passion, and striving to reach one’s potential can coexist with play, enjoyment, and peace underwater.
You showed us that women could lead the way in this sport and inspired me and many others to uncover the limits of our potential.
Every time I read your quotes, I am reminded of the importance of finding joy in this wonderful thing we all enjoy, particularly when dives aren’t going so well. I wish we could have met. Thank you.
Ziyu Rocky Liu
Molchanovs Athlete
Dear Natalia,
Today we’re here to remember not just an amazing freediver, but an amazing person.
Natalia inspired so many of us. Yes, she set incredible records, but what made her truly special was how she looked at freediving. She reminded us that it’s not just about going deeper or chasing numbers. It’s about being in the moment and enjoying every second underwater.
One of my favorite quotes from her is:
“Switch from the aim of depth in freediving to what you feel underwater.”
I think that’s something all of us can relate to. Sometimes we get so focused on the result that we forget why we fell in love with freediving in the first place. Natalia reminded us to slow down, to trust ourselves, and simply enjoy being in the ocean.
Her influence goes far beyond medals and world records. It’s in the way she inspired people to dive with more joy, more respect, and more connection to the water.
We all miss her, but I believe a part of her is still with us every time we take a deep breath and dive beneath the surface.
So let’s carry her spirit into every dive, and remember that the deepest journey isn’t measured in meters, it’s measured by what we feel underwater.
Woongjin Kim
Molchanovs Athlete
Dear Natalia,
I want to tell you about a dive I did in Panglao — 98 meters, a new personal best.
But before that, I have to tell you about the fear.
Last year, at 93 meters, I blacked out. This year, at almost the same depth, that fear came back — even during my breathe-up. In my last ten training dives, I turned early seven times. I was afraid to compete.
So on competition day, I held your words in my mind during breathe-up. You said freediving should be associated with internal calm, never with struggle — that “in proper time” is the key phrase. And that what matters most isn’t the distance, but the feeling of being relaxed.
Every chapter of the Wave manual begins with your words. When I feel lost, when I need wisdom, that’s where I find you again.
This time, I let go of the fear. I let the depth come to me, in its proper time. And I reached 98 meters — calm, not struggling.
Natalia, your words didn’t just help me go deeper. They taught me how to be still, even when I’m afraid.
Thank you for showing us the way down — and the way back to ourselves.
Ahyun Joo
Molchanovs Team
Dear Natalia,
I never got to meet you, but I've carried on your passion and dedication to freediving — I still dive every day in your wetsuit and gear from your collection.
I already know your incredible freediving journeys so well, so what I really want to ask is more personal: as a woman, were you happy in your life? Which moments made you happy? Which ones made you feel full?
When we meet someday up in the sky, please tell me all about it. And then I'll share my own stories with you too — how many people your passion inspired, how many people you gave the ocean to. We still remember you. And we'll keep remembering you, for a long, long time to come.
Oh, and one more thing — please remember that the smile you always wear in your photos makes me happy.
Mariko Kaji
Molchanovs Athlete
Dear Natalia,
You always appear calm and smiling. You show us how free diving have to be. Respect the ocean and enjoy your dive.
Like you, I always keep a smile on my face and enjoy every moment.
Kristina Zvaritch
Molchanovs Team
Dear Natalia,
Thank you for inspiring me, not only as a freediving athlete, but as a woman, educator, entrepreneur, and writer.
You excelled at everything you put your mind to, and from everything I’ve seen and heard, you did it with pure joy.
I never met you, but I spoke to people who knew you personally, and their faces always lit up so brightly as they spoke of you.
I’ll always be grateful for your contributions to freediving education, for your beautiful quotes and poetry, and for paving the way for freediving as I know it today.
Elizaveta Ulanova
Molchanovs Team
Dear Natalia,
Thank you for the constant reminder that freediving is so much more than just numbers but all about how it makes you feel.
You taught me that the real achievement isn't the depth on the rope, it's the quiet that happens inside me long before I even get there.
That lesson followed me well outside the water. As I move on from Molchanovs, I'm taking it with me.
Whatever comes next, I want to remember that the numbers only mean something when the feeling behind them is right, in diving and in everything else.
With gratitude,
Liza Ulanova
Alexey Molchanov
Son of Natalia Molchanova and Co-Founder of Molchanovs
Dear mom,
Thank you for getting me into freediving. I started freediving, but also swimming, when I was 3 years old because of you. Thank you for teaching me.
And also for establishing this methodology and giving this methodology that you created to people, to me, to all the instructors you taught, to all the students you taught, and making people fall in love with freediving.
Some of them would train and get to become professional freedivers, compete in competitions like me. Some would just enjoy freediving as a fun activity and enjoy adventures in the ocean.
But thank you for this legacy you created.
Watch the video tribute to Natalia on the Molchanovs YouTube channel.
Across these letters, Natalia is remembered not only as a champion, but as a teacher, a mentor, a mother, and a woman whose understanding of freediving continues to speak to people she never met.
Her legacy has traveled far beyond her own dives.
It’s passed from instructor to student, from one freediver to another. It lives in manuals, memories, conversations, competition lines, and quiet moments beneath the surface.
Dear Natalia, the community you helped create is still listening. We still carry your words into the water. And every time we dive with patience, joy, humility, and respect, we carry a part of you with us.
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