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95-Year-Old WWII Veteran Sets Record As World's Oldest Scuba Diver

Ray Woolley broke his own record, which he set last year.

Ray Woolley was a radio operator for the British during World War II. He served in the Royal Navy and the Special Boat Service special forces, and he has been an avid scuba diver for the last 58 years.

Woolley set a record last year for being the world’s oldest scuba diver. Then Saturday, at the age of 95, he broke his own record. He dived for 44 minutes at a depth of 133 feet off the coast of Cyprus, where he currently lives.

Ray Woolley has been an avid scuba diver for almost six decades.
Yiannis Kourtoglou / Reuters
Ray Woolley has been an avid scuba diver for almost six decades.

Woolley, who attributes his longevity to an active lifestyle, joined a group other divers to explore the Zenobia, a cargo ship wreck near the town of Larnaca.

“If I can inspire just one person to get up out of their chair and do something, then that’s great,” he said when he broke the record last year.

Woolley dived for 44 minutes off Cyprus on Sept. 1, breaking his own record for being the world’s oldest scuba diver.
Yiannis Kourtoglou / Reuters
Woolley dived for 44 minutes off Cyprus on Sept. 1, breaking his own record for being the world’s oldest scuba diver.

“It’s lovely to break my record again, and I hope if I can keep fit, I will break it again next year with all of you,” Woolley told The Telegraph after the dive Saturday.

Check out Woolley and his record-breaking dive from last year in the related content video below.

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