Marcos Diaz of the Dominican Republic is a man on a mission – a mission to unite the world.

Marcos‘s Swim Across the Continents has generated the broad support of the United Nations and will challenge him in every way.

Marcos will embark on his One Man – Five Continents – Many Voices between May and August 2010 as he will connect the five continents of the world with four tough swims, touching eight countries:

The first swim will unite Oceania to Asia where Marcos will swim from Wutung Village in Papua New Guinea to Mabo in Jayapura, Indonesia. The second swim will unite Asia to Africa with a swim from Perim Island in Mayyun, Yemen to the coast of Fagal in Djibouti. The third swim will unite Africa to Europe from Marruecos, Morocco to Tarifa, Spain across the Strait of Gibraltar.

The final swim – a really tough one in extremely cold and treacherous waters – will unite Europe to the Americas when Marcos replicates Lynne Cox‘s famous 1987 swim between Big Diomedes Island in Russia to Little Diomedes Island in Alaska.

As part of the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals, Marcos explains, “The poverty gap is still much too wide around the world. With this initiative I hope that all of us, rich and poor, government and business, men and women will come together to realize how far we are still from complying with the Millennium Development Goals agreed by the United Nations almost 10 years ago.”

Ban Ki-moon, the UN Secretary-General, welcomed Marcos‘ athletic and political initiative as did Wilfried Lemke, Special US Adviser on Sport for Development and Peace, “[His swim] has inspiring symbolic power. It demonstrates how interconnected we are in this world and that objectives and efforts to promote development and peace are truly global.”

In Spanish, Marcos said, “Este proyecto motivará a las personas a levantarse y ser tomados en cuenta. Este no es mi nado sino el de todos.” UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said in Spanish, “Dada la necesidad de mantener vigentes los Objetivos del Milenio, me gustaría dar la bienvenida a esta iniciativa.”

A video explaining Marcos‘s exploit is here:



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