Antonio Argüelles is an open water swimmer and triathlete from Mexico City. A graduate of Stanford University, he is an Honor Swimmer in the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame and a two-time Guinness World Record holder. At the age of 58, he became the 7th person in history to achieve the Oceans Seven. He later completed a two-way crossing of the Catalina Channel at 60 in 24 hours 17 minutes.
Argüelles completed the 7 channels of the Oceans Seven (Siete Mares):
- English Channel in September 1998 in 16 hours 21 minutes at the age of 40 and in 2009 in 15 hours 34 minutes at 50
- Catalina Channel in July 1998 in 15 hours 15 minutes at the age of 40 and in October 2008 in 13 hours 10 minutes at 49 and in July 2009 in 13 hours 15 minutes at 50
- Strait of Gibraltar in June 2015 in 4 hours 3 minutes at the age of 56
- Tsugaru Channel in September 2015 in 13 hours 18 minutes at the age of 56
- Molokai Channel in March 2016 in 22 hours 13 minutes at the age of 56
- Cook Strait in March 2017 in 12 hours 40 minutes at the age of 57
- North Channel in August 2017 in 14 hours 37 minutes at the age of 58
Argüelles tells first-hand the source of a recent inspiration:
In the spring of 2014, I had my sights set on the Oceans Seven challenge, a series of seven difficult channel crossings around the world. After a prolonged break from swimming due to breaking my leg while training to climb Mount Everest, I traveled to San Francisco to undertake my first training swim.
On the ferry at the start, I glanced at a copy of The New Yorker, opened to an article about Diana Nyad by Ariel Levy [see Breaking The Waves].
Unable to read the full piece before my swim, I found it online afterward. The article inspired me, a 55-year-old former swimmer trying to make an unlikely comeback. I was haunted by the images of Nyad’s bloated face and swollen lips after spending over 52 hours swimming from Cuba to Florida. Not only because it scared me, but also because it was proof that an incredible athlete had achieved what many had considered impossible, and she had done it at the less-than-tender age of 64.
Nyad’s story stayed with me as I crossed the arduous channels of northern Japan, the islands of Hawaii, along the California coast, in Oceania, and in northern Europe to become the oldest man to complete the Oceans Seven in 2017 [see In a Swimmer’s Two-Year Quest, a Final 21-Mile Challenge by Adam Skolnick in the New York Times].
Then, last summer, Nyad’s name resurfaced in my circle of friends within the global open water swimming community. It turned out that a movie, based on her book, Find a Way, was being filmed, starring Annette Bening and Jodie Foster.
Weeks later, with the film nearing completion, a group of open water swimmers led by those who had never swum in the Straits of Florida or experienced what it is like to be brined in salt water for over 24 hours began to badmouth the project. Judging her swim in the Caribbean Sea by the rules of the very different English Channel, they renewed their years-long campaign to discredit Nyad, claiming she either did not complete the swim or otherwise cheated based on assumptions while blatantly disregarding what 40 escort team members had witnessed firsthand.
Nyad and her escort team in the dark on the final night, filmed by escort crew member and scientist Angel Yanagihara, PhD:
Last week, I had the opportunity to watch the film, Nyad. Quite literally, I saw Nyad achieve what I aim to do. Like Nyad back in 2013, I am now 64 years old and chasing a 25-year-old dream.
The inspiration that I gained from the film and her athletic comeback is profoundly personal. I know what Diana felt in the water and the discipline an belief it took to even get to Cuba and begin her swim because I too have experienced several months of long training swims – back and forth in a pool for up to nine tedious hours and swimming up and down the coast of Mexico for up to 24 hours – and the obscenely early wake-up calls and endless strength workouts. I could appreciate and physically feel Diana’s discomfort and pain as she prepared her body and mind for the struggles that she would endure.
In the film, the reality of her failed swims also hit me hard. The repeated disappointments and suffering of swimming for more than 40 hours and never reaching her goal are punishing.
It is a given that your muscles throughout your body will hurt for hours (or days), but when salt water is swallowed during an ocean swim in the Caribbean Sea, a burning sensation inflames your mouth, throat, and stomach, turning each breath into a harrowing ordeal. Even worse, the nausea from all the swallowed salt water and relentless waves hitting you from all angels often results in vomiting. It takes every bit of mental fortitude to not give up.
This type of pain, however, is almost insignificant compared to the pain that small, nearly invisible box jellyfish can inflict. The scene of Diana being stung by the box jellyfish, the world’s most venomous ocean creature, triggered vivid memories of what I endured on my crossings of the Molokai Channel in Hawaii and the North Channel between Scotland and Ireland. I describe the pain as being scalded by a branding iron as salt water is rubbed in the wound while being hit by a sledgehammer. Screaming, pain killers…nothing helps. That is what Diana went through.
To overcome the risk of dying from box jellyfish, she had a custom face mask designed by a prosthesis company. As she swam hours on end with the face mask, I cannot imagine how she was able to breathe and not swallow water. But she did what was necessary, regardless of the discomfort it caused.
I was baffled by the scene in which Diana mentions the risk of the water being too cold. I have experienced that fear in many of my channel crossings, particularly in the North Channel, but how could cold water be a concern in the Caribbean? It turns out that spending over 24 hours in waters below your body temperature, no matter how warm it may seem, can still cause hypothermia.
I also know that swims over 24 hours are often accompanied by hallucinations. I had heard about this effect from other marathon swimmers, but it was not until my own attempt at a 42-mile double crossing of the English Channel that I experienced them. The hallucinations were fascinating and psychedelic, but they felt all too real. That is why I enjoyed seeing the yellow brick road and the Taj Mahal Mahal throughout the eyes of Diana in the movie.
Diana’s relentless determination to go back again and again to accomplish her goal is remarkable. Her attitude, inexplicable to others, is not unlike the attitude of the most accomplished athletes in marathon swimming and other endurance sports. As Annette Bening says at the end of the movie, “You never, never give up.” As incredible as it may seem, I was not surprised that Diana was able to swim for over 52 hours based on her mindset and training.
Bening depicted Diana’s experiences so well. Throughout the movie, we see Diana’s mental toughness. When you swim for so long, there are numerous times when you want to quit. It is so easy to quit – at any time: you simply have to swim to the boat and climb onboard. But Diana – as every channel swimmer knows – resists those temptations and compartmentalizes her feelings. When I feel cold, I warm myself by lighting an imaginary fire in the pit of my stomach. When my muscles hurt, I apply magical ice to them. When negative thoughts emerge, I think about how lucky I am to have this opportunity to swim, even if it is in the darkness miles from shore at 3 am. In a cerebral sport like marathon swimming, success is often 80% mental and 20% physical.
Within all the allegations that have aim to minimize the achievement of a 64-year-old woman completing an incredible swim, I see a unique opportunity. If some swimmers cannot accept her swim as witnessed by 40 volunteers who were there, then take the exact parameters of her swim (use of a face mask, a porous stinger suit, a swim streamer, and duct tape on wrists and ankles) and see how many swimmers – especially over the age of 50 – can replicate the feat.
Diana realized her dream.
It is a profound inspiration for me, and I hope it inspires others to pursue and realize their own dreams, no matter their age.
Antonio Argüelles was awarded the Premio Nacional del Deporte 2009 (National Sports Award) by Mexican President Felipe Calderón for his contributions to open water swimming and triathlon. His next marathon swim will be the 2024 SCAR Swim Challenge and his next channel crossing will be a second attempt at a two-way English Channel crossing when he is 65.