Nejib Belhedi started his World Iron Swims with a small skiff pulling two children. Then he upped the ante and pulled a camel and its trainer on a larger boat.
Then he started to boat pull larger and larger marine vessels.
Ridha Ammar, Chairman and CEO of SONOTRAK, and Slim Tissaoui, Governor of Sfax, confirmed the conditions of Belhedi’s unprecedented boat pull. “There was no initial propulsion of the vessel and the boat’s propellers remained in total stop as [Belhedi] pulled the boat of more than 1000 tons in the Port of Sfax,” Belhedi explained.
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.