Legless at sea
He’s crossed the English Channel before, and now he wants to swim around the world.
Monday 7 May 2012, 01:00PM
Oh, and Philippe Croizon has no arms or legs.
The French endurance athlete – who lost his limbs after being shocked while changing a TV antenna on his roof – announced last week that he wants to swim between five continents.
The 44-year-old will use prosthetic limbs and fins attached to the stumps of his legs, starting with a swim between Indonesia and Papua New Guinea in May. He will be joined by friend Arnaud Chassery.
“We are going to symbolically link the five continents, two little people like us, two little men, we’re going to be able to build a bridge between the continents,” he told the International Business Times.
“That means that we’re going to bring them together. Which means no one is very far from each other. So even if we have different political opinions, or skin colours, or even with our disabilities, we all live on the same planet. And that’s the clear message we want to send.”
Croizon says he’ll swim across a series of narrow straits totalling 85km and some 45 hours in the water.
