Salvatore Cimmino is a disabled Italian swimmer who became the first disabled athlete to swim across the Cook Strait in New Zealand.
His 8 hour 20 minute Cook Strait crossing, organized by Philip Rush, was part of his tour Swimming in the Seas of the Globe (A Nuoto nei Mari del Globo – see here and list of 17 swims below) to promote disability awareness.
Cimmino had his right leg amputated at the age of 15 due to cancer and began swimming later in life for therapeutic reasons. He turned his therapy into a passion for raising disability awareness.
Cimmino explains, “I am committed to promoting social, scholastic, and work inclusion and to allowing full freedom of movement for disabled individuals. I want to guarantee all people have the same rights and equal opportunities. Inclusion means, in fact, literally belonging to something and feeling welcomed.”
It is remarkable how Cimmino has transformed his swimming goals for the betterment of individuals with similar challenges. He says, “I have worked with conviction on the Draft Law on the Equalization of Accidents in Life with Accidents at Work, a project capable of involving everyone and designed, as a person with disabilities, for the specific needs of each person.”
A Nuoto nei Mari del Globo
- May 2020: 17 km in the Sea of Galilee, Israel
- September 2010: 21 km from Trieste, Italy to Koper, Slovenia
- January 2011: 47 km down the Rio Paranà, Santa Fe/Coronda, Argentina
- May 2011: 20 km in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
- October 2011: 23 km across the Cook Strait, New Zealand
- April 2012: 47 km in Lake Kivu, Democractic Republic of Congo
- September 2012: 30 km in Boston Harbor, USA
- February 2013: 19 km Rottnest Channel Swim, Western Australia
- July 2013: 20 km from Liguria to Cinque Terre to Riomaggiore to Monterosso al Mare, Italy
- October 2013: 15 km Sumidero Canyon Swimming Marathon, Mexico
- June 2014: 45.9 km Manhattan Island Marathon Swim, New York, USA
- May 2017: 60 km in Lake Kivu, Democractic Republic of Congo
- November 2017: 50 km from Ponza to San Felice Circeo, Italy
- September 2018: 62.5 km from Ponza to Ventotene, Italy
- May 2019: 30 km from Torre Annunziata to Massa Lubrense, Italy
- October 2019: from Massa Lubrense to Positano to Praiano to Amalfi, Italy
- October 2021: Giro d’Italia a nuoto, Italy where he swam 10 swims between 15-17 km, from Genoa to Trieste to remind people of the problems of architectural barriers for those who are disabled
For more information about this remarkable man who has been repeatedly named one of the World’s 50 Most Adventurous Open Water Men, visit www.salvatorecimmino.it.
© 2023 Daily News of Open Water Swimming
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