100-Year-Old Becomes World’s Oldest Diver
Proving you’re never too old to try something new, Bill Lambert of Rockford, Illinois began diving two years ago — at 98-years-old.
Now 100 years old, he has submitted for Guinness World Records recognition as the world’s oldest scuba diver. Lambert took a 27-minute dive to 40-feet with his guide from Loves Park Scuba in a local lake earlier this week, followed by local news cameras and his daughter. A 20-minute dive is required to qualify for Guiness recognition.
People “should try it. If they like it, pursue it,” Lambert told his local news station.
The world record for oldest male diver is currently held by British diver Wallace Raymond Woolley, who dove 140 feet at 96-years-(and three days!)-old to the Zenobia shipwreck in Larnaca Bay, Cyprus, in August 2019.
Lambert took a dive trip two years ago to Cozumel at 98 with Loves Park Scuba, but did not submit for Guinness recognition. This is his second formal attempt at the world record, having dived last year at 99-years-old at Pearl Lake in Illinois. At that time, he told reporters he stays fit by riding a stationary bike for half-an-hour six days a week.
“It’s been pretty insane,” says Lambert’s daughter, Deb Steinfeld. “And the fact he’s still doing it and he’s still healthy enough to do it at 100 — he is an amazing guy.”
Woolley broke his own record three years in a row, a precedent Lambert wants to follow: His goal is to “live to 101 and break it again!”
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