A Wave Of Winter Swimming Sweeps China
“Being invited to China was a stunning opportunity,” explains Nuala Moore. “Both Anne Marie [Ward] and I were invited as guests of Boris Ratushniy of the St. Petersburg Winter Swimming Federation.”Ratushniy (shown above) is considered to be the Grandfather of winter swimming. A remarkable individual with charisma and character, he still swims and competes at the age of 77. “He walked up and ran down the great Wall of China with the agility of a 20-year-old,” recalls Moore.
The Chinese hosts to the visiting foreign delegations were the China Shandong Travel Service. “They have offices worldwide including in Dublin. Our trip was filled with excursions, banquets and travel that money could not have paid for. Every requirement was catered for by Deputy General Manager Jin Jiang, himself a winter swimmer. Each year the itinerary of events just keeps getting bigger and better.”
Jiang and his fellow Chinese winter swimmers welcomed like-minded athletes from Ireland, Finland, Estonia, Russia, the United Kingdom, Lithuania, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, Argentina, Czech Republic, the U.S.A., and throughout China. The competition was the Jinan International Winter Swimming Festival on the eastern province of Shāndōng. “The Jinan competition attracted over 900 swimmers. Despite the water being around the 13-14ºC (55-57ºF) as a result of the natural hot springs some found it cold. But we loved it,” described Moore.
“The competitions are graded and have several hundreds in each group. I started my swim wedged between two Chinese breaststrokers. After a few minutes of nearly having a few organs ruptured – they have some leg kick-whip – I sat back and allowed the swimmers to go and just enjoyed the swim as I saw the steam rise as the cold air of -4ºC was stunning.”
Zhang Mei, Secretary General of the Chinese Winter Swimming Committee, has over 1 million registered Chinese winter swimmers. Together with her colleagues, including Fu Hongshan of the Shandong China Winter Swimming Association, the sport continues to grow.
Photos courtesy of Nuala Moore.
Copyright © 2014 by World Open Water Swimming Association
Southern California native, born 1962, is the creator of the WOWSA Awards, Oceans Seven, Openwaterpedia, Citrus Corps, World Open Water Swimming Association, Daily News of Open Water Swimming, Global Open Water Swimming Conference. He is Chief Executive Officer of KAATSU Global and KAATSU Research Institute. Inductee in the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame (Honor Swimmer, Class of 2001) and Ice Swimming Hall of Fame (Honor Contributor - Media, Class of 2019), recipient of the International Swimming Hall of Fame's Poseidon Award (2016), International Swimming Hall of Fame's Irving Davids-Captain Roger Wheeler Memorial Award (2010), USA Swimming's Glen S. Hummer Award (2007, 2010) and Harvard University's John B. Imrie Award (1984). Served on the FINA Technical Open Water Swimming Committee and as Technical Delegate with the 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games, and 9-time USA Swimming coaching staff. Note: WOWSA only recommends products or services used or recommended by the community. WOWSA does not receive compensation for links or products mentioned on this site or in blog posts. If it does, it will be indicated clearly on that specific post. See WOWSA's privacy policy for more information.
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