Swimming Safely Across The Bosphorus
Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California. While some foreign athletes and coaches decided not to visit Turkey because of the recent terrorism attacks and coup attempt, Shelley Taylor-Smith was committed to go as the guest of honor.
She welcomed visiting and supporting one of the world’s greatest open water swimming extravaganzas, the Samsung Intercontinental Bosphorus Swimming Competition (Samsung Boğazıçi Kitalararasi Yarislari).
3,840 swimmers from 64 countries will join in the swim from Asia to Europe on July 24th.
Pelin Celik of the Turkish Olympic Committee and a Bosphorus Commission Member explains about the event’s previous guests of honor. “As our honorary guests, we invited Mark Spitz in 2012, Ian Thorpe in 2013, Inge de Brujin in 2014 and Adam Walker in 2015.”
The course extends across the Istanbul Strait and connects the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmara in Turkey. Bosphorus is the world’s most narrow strait used for international navigation and enables participants to claim they swam between Asia and Europe.
Safety first has rarely meant so much in and around, before and after, an open water swim.
Copyright © 2016 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.
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