After his illustrious professional marathon swimming career, International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame Honour Swimmer Gustavo Oriozabala from Argentina continued to swim and challenge himself as a solo swimmer.
In February 2006, Gustavo became the first person to swim between islands in the Falkland Islands, known as the Malvinas in Spanish.
He swam 8K in 90 minutes between Gran Malvina and isla Soledad – the first time anyone had swum between any of the 778 islands in the archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean, located about 290 miles (460K) from the coast of mainland South America.
In the midst of the political differences between the UK and Argentina, Gustavo negotiated for years to arrange the swim that happened 24 years after Argentina and the UK fought over the islands. It took him 90 minutes to swim across between Saint Mont and puerto San Carlos.
“I knew it was going to be the most demanding test [of my career],” recalled Gustavo. “Two times, I was on the verge of quitting because of the intense cold of the water (3-5C). The winds and strong swells were challenging as I was going hypothermic. I was slowing down, but I believe the emotion [about the war] kept me going.”
Given the fact that Gustavo has done the English Channel (1993), Paraná Rosario (1994), the Río de la Plata (1997), Strait of Magellan (2001 two-way), Lake Titicaca (1998, 20K between Peru and Bolivia), Beagle Channel (1998, three-way), Strait of Gibraltar (1994, two-way) and dozens of professional marathon swims in seas (Italy), lakes (Canada, Holland, Germany), rivers (Argentina) and oceans (USA, Brazil, Holland), it is impressive that he thought this 8K swim was the hardest.
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.