Meet Martin Strela: a 67-year-old who swims in the most dangerous rivers in the world
(CNN) – The world’s rivers can be dangerous places – at least if you swim in them. Marathon swimmer and Guinness World Record holder Martin Strel has been navigating pirates, piranhas and parasites for more than two decades and battling some of the most threatening waters known to mankind.
The 67-year-old Slovenian remembers a moment in 2004 when he was battling the Chinese Yangtze River. The locals told him while swimming: “Martin, go home as soon as possible, you will die.” Despite their warnings, the shot kept pushing forward, he successfully completed the swim and secured his fourth world record, swimming 2,487 miles in 51 days.
Although much easier than swimming the Yangtze, Strel’s next job is to swim the Dubai Water Canal. It will cover 50 kilometers (31 miles) on the 50th anniversary of the founding of the United Arab Emirates. The 24-hour event will start on Friday, December 10 in Burj Al Arab and end at the Etihad Museum and take you through the heart of Dubai.
The shot has been breaking records for more than 20 years. At age 46, he swam 1,866 miles of the Danube in 58 days, and in 2002 traveled 2,360 miles along the Mississippi. Five years later, he swam the Amazon and swam 3,274 miles – about the same distance as from New York to the southern tip of the UK. This earned him the Guinness Book of Records for the longest swim in open water, a recognition he still holds today.
Martin Strel swimming in the Amazon River in Peru, 2007.
Martin Strel via AP
During this insidious voyage, Strel encountered piranhas, sharks, parasites, and suffered from dengue fever and severe sunburn. He has been threatened by pirates for the past few weeks and has had to have a security team with him at all times. His most frightening moment, however, was when his son – who was 26 years old and joined him in the work of swimming – was temporarily paralyzed after being stung by a thorn.
“There is no hospital. There are no roads. There is only water and a lot of trees more than a hundred meters high,” recalls Strel. “If you call a helicopter, where will it pick you up?” Fortunately, his son has fully recovered, but this serves as a reminder of the high stakes that these accomplishments bring.
An unusual athlete
The shot may not seem like your usual athlete: it weighs 240 pounds (110 kg) and drinks almost a bottle of wine every day. “I’m not like Michael Phelps or Ryan Lochte, but I can swim,” he says. “You have to start and then you have to finish. Only the result matters.”
However, he has a strict training regime, which allows him to spend part of his life in the Slovenian countryside (he spends the rest of the time in the USA). “I swim every day, usually twice a day,” he says. “I do cross-country skiing and then hiking and gymnastics.”
Shot also trained his brain to survive his strenuous swimming – which sometimes makes him go into the water for 12 hours in a row. While swimming, he talks to himself, almost like a form of self-hypnosis, and when he’s in cold waters, he thinks about being in a hot tub.
Strel developed his passion for swimming as a child in the town of Mokronog in Slovenia. “When I was growing up, there was no television, no radio, no newspapers. My home was forests, rivers and lakes,” he says.
His career is as colorful as his personality. Shot was a soldier in the Yugoslav Army before becoming a professional gambler. At the age of 30, he taught flamenco guitar and only later in life did he decide to swim long distances. When Slovenia became independent from Yugoslavia in 1991, Strel celebrated this opportunity by swimming across the entire length or the Krka River (approximately 65 miles).
‘Water is my best friend’
So why is he doing this? Shot has swum in more than 150 countries around the world and seen first-hand the environmental challenges facing our waters. “I understand our oceans, rivers and lakes and there is pollution everywhere,” he says. While sailing on the Danube, he went through cyanide-contaminated waters and, to his horror, found that “everything underwater is completely dead.” Shot hopes to be able to raise awareness and promote clean waters around the world.
Martin Strel swimming in the Danube.
with permission Archive Martin Strel
His next big project is World Swim. From next year, it will last 500 days, visit 130 countries and travel about 6,835 miles. The aim of the project is to inspire individuals, organizations and companies to take action in emergencies. The shot also hopes that this feat will bring him a sixth Guinness World Record.
In addition, Strel wants to continue to break records and strive to become the oldest winner of the World and European Open Water Championships: “Now I’m too young for that,” he remarks, “maybe at 75 or 80, that’s my goal.”
But if he continues as he is, the Shot will be ready when the time is right.
“I’ll never stop swimming,” he says. “Water is my best friend, it’s my life.”