if this isn't sports worthy, I don't know what is...


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070408/ap_on_fe_st/brazil_amazon_swimmer_7

Quote :

"RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil - After 3,272 miles of exhaustion, sunburn, delirium and piranhas, a 52-year-old Slovenian successfully completed a swim down the Amazon River Saturday that could set a world record for distance — something he's already done three times before. ADVERTISEMENT After nine weeks, Martin Strel arrived near the city of Belem, the capital of the jungle state of Para, ending a swim almost as long as the drive from Miami to Seattle. Strel averaged about 50 miles a day since beginning his odyssey at the source of the world's second-longest river in Peru on Feb. 1. By Thursday evening, he was struggling with dizziness, vertigo, high blood pressure, diarrhea, nausea and delirium, his Web site said. But despite having difficulty standing and being ordered by the doctor not to swim, Strel was obsessed with finishing the course and insisted on night swimming. "He's hit point zero," Borut Strel, Martin's son and the project coordinator, said by telephone from the Amazon. "There will be a ceremony Sunday in Belem, but he finished today." Speaking in fluent accented English by satellite phone during a break aboard his support vessel, the elder Strel said that the going got tougher the closer he got to Belem. "The finish has been the toughest moment so far," he said Thursday. "I've been swimming fewer kilometers as I get closer to the end. The ocean tides have a lot of influence on the river's currents and sometimes they are so strong that I am pushed backward." He said he was lucky to have escaped encounters with piranhas, the dreaded toothpick fish, which swims into body orifices to suck blood, and even bull sharks that swim in shallow waters and can live for a while in fresh water. "I think the animals have just accepted me," he said. "I've been swimming with them for such a long time that they must think I'm one of them now. I still have dolphins swimming with me." Cramps, high blood pressure, diarrhea, chronic insomnia, larvae infections, dehydration and abrasions caused by the constant rubbing of his wet suit against his skin frequently tormented him. Strel, who lost some 26 pounds, said there were times he felt such pain in his arms, chest and legs, "that I could not get out of the water on my own." To cope with the delirium and other problems, Strel said he turned to his doctor. "My doctor, who is a psychotherapist, talks to me, asks about my pains and redirects my thinking to other things," Strel said. "It definitely helps to have someone to talk to when I'm not in the water, even though sometimes I fall asleep while she is talking." Sunburn was Strel's biggest problem in the first half of his adventure. Just days after he began his swim, Strel developed second-degree burns on his face and forehead, and his team feared the burns would worsen and become infected. His team fashioned a mask out of a pillow case for protection, but Strel did not use it all the time because it was too hot and made breathing very difficult, he said. His lips became blistered, and scabs formed on his nose and upper cheeks. In addition, his eyes became sore and swollen, probably from sunblock getting inside his goggles. The sunburn became so bad that while still swimming in Peru he thought of quitting, he said. "I couldn't sleep at night and I thought we would have to stop for a week or so. But with time things improved," he said. "People from all over the world sent us some creams that helped solve the problem and we improved the mask." If confirmed by Guinness World Records, the Amazon swim will be the fourth time Strel has broken the world record for long-distance swimming. In 2000, he completed an 1,866-mile swim along the Danube. He broke that record two years later after swimming 2,360 miles down the Mississippi. In 2004 he broke it again by swimming 2,487 miles along the Yangtze river in China. Strel's Web site said he broke his 2004 record on March 17 when he arrived in the small town of Urucurituba in the state of Amazonas, 2,490 miles from the river's source. Kate White, a Guinness spokeswoman, said the organization would only confirm if Strel had established a new record after analyzing data from him and his support team, a process that usually takes six to eight weeks. Strel's staff said they planned to send Guinness all the documents required by the first week in August, at the latest. Comparing his Amazon adventure with his other record-breaking swim in Europe, the United States and China, Strel said "it was the toughest expedition by far." "The Amazon river has no barriers like locks, so the current is constantly flowing," he said. "I didn't expect so many whirlpools and so many currents." Asked about new adventures, he said: "I am not thinking about that right now ... But I'll find some other crazy swim, maybe in a lake or in an ocean." "I am not going to do the Nile. It's long but not challenging enough, it is just a small creek, he said. "The Amazon is much more mighty." "

[Edited on April 9, 2007 at 9:17 AM. Reason : .]

4/9/2007 9:17:12 AM

it was basically a ride. do you realize how fast the amazon flows.

4/9/2007 9:26:05 AM

If he was smart he would've used the diarrhea as a propellant to boost himself down the river

4/9/2007 9:35:10 AM

apparently this guy makes a habit out of swimming all the world's longest rivers, the amazon is just his latest venture

4/9/2007 9:36:44 AM

Current assisted. I wonder how many miles you would clock per day just floating on your back.

4/9/2007 9:39:32 AM

Even so, drifting down a dangerous river for 50 miles a day for 2 months+ is no joke.

4/9/2007 9:43:08 AM

True, I certainly wouldn't do it.

I think I heard that this guy even did the Ganges river.

4/9/2007 9:45:31 AM

He needs to swim the whole thing upstream. Then I'll be impressed.

[Edited on April 9, 2007 at 9:46 AM. Reason : .]

4/9/2007 9:45:54 AM

^^ not ganges.

he has done danube, yagtze, and the mississippi.

Quote :

"Martin Strel set three previous long-swim records, starting with the 3,004km Danube in 2000, then the 3,797km Mississippi in 2001 and the 4,003km Yangtze in 2004. "

and the amazon is 5,265 km.

next DA NILE??? cuz that's all there is left, if he wants to progress...! and then no more!




here is his weekly diary during the duration of the whole swim:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/talking_point/6389845.stm

[Edited on April 9, 2007 at 9:53 AM. Reason : ]

4/9/2007 9:51:35 AM

Quote :

"^^ not ganges."

Oh, Ok. They (mistakingly) said that on the radio this morning and I couldn't help but wonder how someone could have survived that one.

4/9/2007 10:02:37 AM

I find this a lot more impressive:

Quote :

"IN THE WESTERN DESERT, Egypt -- Three ultra-endurance athletes have just done something most would consider insane: They ran the equivalent of two marathons a day for 111 days to become the first modern runners to cross the Sahara Desert's grueling 4,000 miles."

Article continues, I won't post it all here. Here's the link: http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/news/story?id=2772368

4/9/2007 10:05:48 AM

they probably had the wind at their backs

4/9/2007 10:08:34 AM

Yeah, I wonder how many miles you would clock per day just standing still.

4/9/2007 10:25:48 AM

Because standing on the ground with a wind at your back is exactly like floating in a current.

[Edited on April 9, 2007 at 10:29 AM. Reason : -]

4/9/2007 10:29:28 AM

Is it just you, or are all religious nutjobs devoid of any sense of facetiousness?

4/9/2007 10:32:41 AM

4/9/2007 10:39:45 AM

I always wonder what motivates people to take this kind of thing on?

4/9/2007 10:40:27 AM

^ To do it.

4/9/2007 10:42:20 AM

^^ click the link i posted. he talks about that.

***********************

and earlier i posted this:

next DA NILE??? cuz that's all there is left, if he wants to progress...!

and i didn't even know that he had talked about it! just saw this:

Quote :

""I am not going to do the Nile. It's long but not challenging enough, it is just a small creek , he said. "The Amazon is much more mighty." "

4/9/2007 10:44:13 AM

wtf/lol, i guess you have to take his word for it....i mean who can honestly dispute him?

[Edited on April 9, 2007 at 10:45 AM. Reason : .]

[Edited on April 9, 2007 at 10:46 AM. Reason : .]

4/9/2007 10:45:18 AM

^^^ Just to push your boundaries and try something that seems impossible. I guess some people's boundaries are a lot further out than others.

4/9/2007 10:45:52 AM

Quote :

"by swimming 2,487 miles along the Yangtze river in China"

god that's disgusting. isn't that the most polluted river in the world?

4/9/2007 10:51:21 AM

And I'm sure it doesn't take any energy to stay above the water? Pretty damn impressive.

4/9/2007 10:54:48 AM

Quote :

"if this isn't sports worthy, I don't know what is... "

sports require competition, nobody else is stupid enought to do this...

4/9/2007 11:32:47 AM

Quote :

"god that's disgusting. isn't that the most polluted river in the world?"

no, considering the Yellow River is probably the most polluted river in china.

and i'd be willing to bet the ganges is more polluted than the yangtze

[Edited on April 9, 2007 at 5:16 PM. Reason : .]

4/9/2007 5:12:21 PM

My ladyfriend and I paddled the Mississippi River in a canoe a few years ago. I can't get over that guy swimming that.

http://www.sourcetosea.net

I know one of the kayakers who helped guide this guy when he swam the Mississippi. He said Strel was sort of a dick, but hella determined. That river is no joke with all the currents, whirlpools, barges, and other stuff always around. I can't imagine what going down the Amazon would be like with gators, parasites, toothpick fish, and freaking piranhas.

4/9/2007 5:35:45 PM

watch out for those anacondas

4/9/2007 8:47:13 PM

ahhh.. let me be the first to point out that this guy is at best a fucking retard

4/9/2007 8:55:30 PM

You can say all you want that this guy is a retard but obviously he has an extreme passion for swimming. Yes, he probably could have chosen safer bodies of water to swim in yet this was a challenge that he was willing to take (and probably the challenge that made his life complete). I am amazed by this feet no matter how "retarded" people think it is.

4/9/2007 9:07:06 PM

Why aren't people here saying the same smack about rock climbing or mountain climbing? I think this is a feat.

4/9/2007 9:10:26 PM

amazing, yes.. retarded ... still yes

4/9/2007 9:15:24 PM

Are rock climbers and mountain climbers retarded?

4/9/2007 9:29:04 PM

yes

4/9/2007 9:29:50 PM

Haha. Enough said then.

4/9/2007 9:52:45 PM

everyone keeps saying pirhanas, but they supposedly dont attack humans very often.

4/9/2007 10:00:45 PM

screw the piranhas I would be worried about that fish that crawls up your dick

[Edited on April 9, 2007 at 10:26 PM. Reason : .]

4/9/2007 10:26:08 PM

I wouldn't even swim the length across it!!

4/9/2007 11:05:07 PM

I bet this guy would do step 33


http://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=Stanford,+California,+United+States&daddr=KTH-hallen,+Stockholm,+Sweden

4/12/2007 6:37:31 PM

piranahs are only dangerous when they go without food. apparently they like shallow water, and will often get trapped in tiny pools when the river recedes during the dry season.

then they get hungry.

if you were actually in the amazon river they probably wouldnt bother you, since they wouldnt be starving to death in there.

4/12/2007 8:36:36 PM

running across the sahara is more impressive to me. 44-50 miles a day in the sahara for 4 months. I can't imagine how long you have to train for that.

4/13/2007 2:24:51 PM

^Are you fucking kidding me?

4/13/2007 10:41:29 PM