Noam Yaron (@noamyaron) did not achieve his Odyssée Méditerranée goal of swimming 171 km from Corsica to Monaco.
It is always tough for athletes and their support teams to face a DNF. It can be a crushing blow to everyone’s ego for not eventually walking up onshore.
Swimmers start with confidence and excitement (see photo of Yaron above on left) that can, often times, end with frustration and disappointment (see photo on right).
But failure is a major part of the sport of open water swimming.
DNF has always been a part of channel crossings, marathon swims, ice swimming, adventure expeditions, and stage swims. And it will always be so.
Tom Burgess Across The English Channel
Thomas William Burgess was a 2-time Olympic athlete from Great Britain. He was one of the early pioneers of channel swimming when he crossed the English Channel. He was the second person to swim the Channel in 22 hours 35 minutes in 1911 on his 16th attempt.
15 times, he set off to attempt an English Channel attempt. 15 times, he failed. But he kept after his goal. He was relentless, endlessly positive, never letting his dream of swimming the Channel die. Finally, he walked onshore to France after 22 hours 35 minutes (read the first-hand account here).
Joseph Locke To The Farallones
In more contemporary times, Joseph Locke found time for 7 different attempts between the Farallon Islands and the Golden Gate Bridge as well as facing numerous other disappointments when he never even got off shore to start. Time and time again, water temperatures dropped below 10°C (50°F), powerful tides shifted relentlessly against him during his attempts, and conditions became impassible during his Farallon Islands swims near San Francisco Bay.
But on his seventh attempt after 13 hours 58 minutes, he ultimately succeeded.
Did Not Finish
DNF’s are not rare for first-time channel crossings and unprecedented marathon swims. This phenomena has repeated itself many times in most channels and across many lakes throughout open water swimming history.
“People can learn from swimmers who DNF’ed. Some swimmers see their own DNFs as personal failures – these swims hurt because of all the time, energy, hopes, finances and family, work and personal sacrifices that are made to get to the start line,” observed Steven Munatones.
“It is understandable the reasons why swimmers do not want to share their failures in an open water swim, channel swim or marathon swim, but teams like Sandycove Island Swim Club include swimmers with DNF’s in their list of successful swimmers [see here],” explains Ned Denison, chairperson of the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame.
But the sting of a failure hurts deeply. It never completely goes away. But redemption always feels good.
That is what Noam Yaron plans on – another attempt. The 27-year-old Swiss swimmer and actor will go back to the drawing boards and analyze what went right and what did not go right on this week’s Odyssée Méditerranée attempt. Now is the time to rest and recover…and then get back to hard training with plans to return in 2025.
Stay tuned for updates. For more information, visit www.calvi-monaco.com.
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