Courtesy of WOWSA,

DESCRIPTION OF SWIMMING CAREER – LEWIS PUGH
Lewis Pugh is an endurance swimmer and a maritime lawyer.
He has pioneered swims in the most vulnerable ecosystems on Earth to campaign for their
protection. In 2013 the United Nations appointed him as the UN Patron of the Oceans.
He was the first person to swim the 528km length of the English Channel. He was also the
first to complete a long-distance swim in every ocean of the world. And the first to complete
a long-distance swim in each of the seven ancient seas.
Over a period of 32 years Lewis has undertaken swims in the most challenging
environments on earth including the Antarctic, the Arctic and the Himalayas, and developed
an understanding of the beauty and fragility of life and its many ecosystems.
He has undertaken swims which many thought impossible: a 1km swim across an open
patch of sea at the North Pole to highlight the melting of the Arctic sea ice (it should not
have been possible to swim across the Pole; he did so in order to demonstrate the dramatic
extent of ice loss); a high-altitude swim across a glacial lake on Mt Everest to draw attention
to the melting glaciers in the Himalayas, and the impact the reduced water supply will have
on peace in the region; and the most southern swim in the world in the Bay of Whales in
Antarctica – in water which was minus 1.7°C and an air temperature of minus 37°C – to
campaign for the protection of the Ross Sea.
All his swims, even those in the Polar Regions, were undertaken according to Channel
Swimming Association Rules – ie: in a Speedo, cap and goggles.
Lewis has been instrumental in protecting over 2 million square kilometers of vulnerable
ocean – an area equivalent to the size of Western Europe. His dream is to fully protect 30%
of the world’s oceans by 2030