Martin Strel, Big River Man. ¿Héroe o Loco?

Hoy voy a presentaros a alguien que seguramente no conozcais, su nombre es Martin Strel. Podría utilizar infinidad de calificativos, sobrehumano, héroe, loco, extraño, obsesionado, superhombre..... pero os cuento quien es y vosotros utilizais el que deseeis.

Tuve noticia de sus hazañas hace un par de años,y he venido revisando cada uno de sus retos y me doy cuenta que tiene todo lo necesario para pasar a la historia, como un héroe, o como un antihéroe, pero sobretodo como un deportista único e inigualable.

Martin Strel simboliza el yin y el yan, el blanco y el negro, dentro del deporte. Este es su curriculum deportivo:
1994: Europe (Italy), Adriatic Sea between Lignano and Ravenna, 162,5 kms
55 hrs, 11 min - Martin set up a new world long-distance record in uninterrupted ocean swimming.

1997: Africa - Europe, Mediterranean Sea between Tunisia and Italy, 78 kms
29 hrs, 36 min, 57 s - Martin became the first to cross the sea from Africa to Europe. 7 swimmers have attempted this before, all failed. Martin swam without a wetsuit under FINA (International Swimming Federation) supervision with 7 international judges.

2000: Europe (10 countries) - Danube River, 3004 kms
58 days - a new world long-distance record. Martin goes for the first time in the Guinness Book of Records. He was the first to swim the whole Danube from source to estuary.
He decided to make a difference for entering into a new millennium era.

2001: Europe – Danube River, 504.5 kms Non Stop
84 hrs, 10 min – a new world record in non-stop swimming achieved on the Danube in July 2001. Martin first beat the record by Argentinean Ricardo Hoffman (481,5km, 84hrs 37min), then proceeded to swim on and finishing at 504.5 km, after 84 hrs 10 min.

2002: USA (10 states) - Mississippi River, 3797 kms
68 days - Martin swam the entire length of the Mississippi in the USA. The project was entitled Eye to Eye. Martin was the first to swim the river from source to estuary and he surpassed his Danube record and entered in the Guinness Book of Records again. He also dedicated his great sporting achievement, covered by all of the world´s major media, to peace, friendship and clean waters. He particularly reached out to the American public by stating that he lays his historic swim on the altar of remembrance of the victims of September 11.

2003: Argentina – Paraná River, 1930 kms
24 days - Martin made it all the way from Iguazzu Falls to the center of Buenos Aires in the Rio de la Plata, becoming the first man to have swam the entire 1930 kms of this tricky South American river. He was swimming from from dawn to dust and averaged over 80 kms per day.

2004: PR China - Yangtze River, 4003 kms
In 51 days of struggling in the muddy China river Martin surpassed his record from the Mississippi 2002. This project was the most demanding to date in all respects so far. A new Guinness Record was broken again. The project was covered by CCTV 9 channel and followed through Yahoo China website.

2007: Peru, Brazil - Amazon River, 5268 kms
66 days: Most of the people could not believed it until it happened. The Amazon is known as largest, longest and the most dangerous river in the world. Martin decided to risk his life and made a history. For him this was a story of “Achieving the Impossible”. Martin wanted to show the world that people can achieve their dreams and goals with hard work and persistence. He also promoted the importance of preservation of the Rain forest, the biggest oxygen producer on the planet. A new Guinness Record has been broken again. The whole world was following this amazing historical event and American filmmakers produced an award winning (Sundance 2009) feature-length documentary called Big River Man which is distributed by Discovery Channel in North America. The book: The man who swam the Amazon has been released in many countries worldwide.

Todo esto requiere preparación, un gran sacrificio, capacidad de sufrimiento y unos buenos patrocinadores, por supuesto.
El lado antihéroe, es que nada tiene que ver con sus hazañas deportivas, sino el que va ligado al juego, al alcohol (dos botellas de vino al día, cerveza), pocas horas de sueño, estado físico nada estereotipado.
Pero todo lo ha hecho con algún fin, sea luchar contra la deforestación del Amazonas, recordar a las víctimas del 11-S o luchar contra la contaminación del planeta.
Por eso, se le perdona ese lado antiheróico y se le admira, y yo me apunto a eso, parece un gran deportista y una gran persona.
Si teneis ocasión visionad su documental sobre el Cruce del Amazonas (a pesar de parecer sensacionalista), no tiene desperdicio.
Os dejo los enlaces a sus webs:
Web personal Martin Strel: http://www.amazonswim.com/
Web Amazon Swim: http://www.amazonswim.com/
Web Documental:  http://www.bigriverman.com/

Además os dejo un par de videos promocionales: