Fastest or First?

Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California.

When discussing, voting and deciding the Top Ten Moments in Open Water Swimming History, we are often reminded of the great demand: Who is more deserving: the first or the fastest?




That is, is the first person who crossed the English Channel (Matthew Webb) more worthy of recognition than the fastest (Petar Stoychev)? What about the first woman? the youngest? the oldest? the first double crossing? the first triple crossing? What about a colder channel swim (e.g., Irish Channel or Cook Strait)? What about a solo swim in a rougher or longer channel (e.g., Molokai Channel)? Where does a a shark-infested crossing stand (e.g., Farallon Islands to San Francisco)? Is the Olympic 10K Marathon Swim champion, who had to compete against the world's fastest swimmers, more worthy than someone who set the record across the Strait of Gibraltar?

Members of the selection committee of the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame frequently face these same issues when discussing and deciding what outstanding individuals should be nominated and inducted into the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame.

Because everyone is deserving of recognition, a potential list might include all the first-time English Channel swims (e.g., single-, double and triple-crossings), all the past record holders and all the current record holders (male, female, youngest, oldest).

Difficult decisions all.

Photo of Petar Stoychev by Pei Qingsheg at the Olympic 10K Marathon Swim qualification race in Beijing.

Copyright © 2009 by World Open Water Swimming Association

Taking On Another Challenge

Natalie du Toit of South Africa’s qualification for the Olympic 10K Marathon Swim was among the nominations for the Top Ten Open Water Swimming Moments in History.

Similar to her challenging road to Beijing, Natalie encountered obstacles, but eventually achieved success, in her final open water swim of the year in 2008.

Her December 28th victory in the 6K Sabrina Love Ocean Challenge was described as an absolutely blistering performance from an enormously inspiring athlete.

Because the weather was horrendous and ocean swells were dangerous, the event was shifted from its usual ocean location to Central Beach in Plettenberg Bay (previously referred to as ‘Bahia Formosa’ or ‘beautiful bay’ in Portuguese). Because the water was very shallow in place and Natalie can’t simply stand up to walk through the sand patches, it was a real challenge. But, she won the event in 54:35 (second overall to winning Chad Ho’s 53:45).

"Safety considerations forced us to call off the 6K and the 0.6K kid’s race, but Magnetic South pulled the rabbit out of the hat and set new courses on the Keurbooms Lagoon so the day went off without a hitch," said the Sabrina Love Foundation’s Tony Lubner. "What amazed us, though, was the number of entries that poured in: I think it’s well over a thousand - double what we had last year."

Photos by Magnetic South and Martin Hatchuel.