Oly In A Rush To Make A Difference
Oliver ‘Oly’ Rush may have started out as a competitive pool swimmer, but his aquatic career has continued in the open water with major annual solo swims to his name and specific marine environmental goals to achieve.
The British open water swimmer from Dorset has completed three major swims: The Grand Swim, The IOW Swim, and the Jurassic Coast Swim over the last three years:
- Jurassic Coast Swim: In 2020, he swam 160 km in 10 days along the Jurassic Coast in the English Channel of southern England.
- IOW Swim: In 2021, he completed a 90.75 km wetsuited circumnavigation swim around the Isle of Wight off the southern coast of England in 15 hours 9 minutes with support crew members Brian Thompson and Scott Dawson.
- Grand Swim: In 2022, he completed a 95.5 km circumnavigation swim around Grand Cayman Island in the Cayman Islands in 36 hours 59 minutes.
His three swim have raised awareness about plastic pollution and the way mankind is treating the planet and its oceans.
Rush is responsible for removing truckloads of plastic from the Dorset coastline while swimming for these environmental causes. In a short film (entitled Rush), directed by Mike Coggan and produced by Steve Garay, he explains his life, approach, and philosophy:
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