Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California.
In 1989, there were 64 men and 4 women in the first Samsung Intercontinental Bosphorus Swimming Competition.
Now, 3,800 swimmers applied to the race from Asia to Europe our first race in 1989 and 2,000 swimmers from 52 countries will have the same chance to swim from Asia to Europe on July 24.
7-time World Professional Marathon Swimming Federation champion Shelley Taylor-Smith of Australia will be the guest of honor and official starter for the Samsung Intercontinental Bosphorus Swimming Competition (Samsung Boğazıçi Kitalararasi Yarislari).
Pelin Celik of the Turkish Olympic Committee and a Bosphorus Commission Member explains about the previous guests of honor of one of the world’s greatest open water swimming extravaganzas. “As our honorary guests, we invited Mark Spitz in 2012, Ian Thorpe in 2013, Inge de Brujin in 2014 and Adam Walker in 2015.”
The course extends across the Istanbul Strait and connects the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmara in Turkey. Bosphorus is the world’s most narrow strait used for international navigation and enables participants to claim they swam between Asia and Europe.
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