Limbless French man swims across two continents

A  French quadruple amputee, Philippe Croizon has against his physical challenges crossed from Alaska to Russia according to Reuters.

The journey, from Alaska’s Little Diomede Island to the Russian maritime border near Big Diomede Island, measured about 2.5 miles (4 km) and took the swimmer about an hour and 15 minutes to complete.

The 44-year-old Croizon is the second person to swim the Bering Strait from Alaska to Russia. American long-distance swimmer Lynne Cox was the first to swim the route in 1987.

The Frenchman, whose limbs were amputated after he suffered a freak 20,000 volt accident in 1994, has now completed his quest to cross the waterways connecting the continents of Oceania, Asia, Europe, Africa, and America in his Intercontinental Straits Swimming Challenge.

In his quest to bring the challenge of handicapped people to the forefront and create an awareness of their plight, Croizon has taken up several swimming challenges.

In May, the father-of-two completed the first part of the challenge swimming from Australia to Asia in a 12 mi (20 km) journey from Papua New GuineatoIndonesiain seven-and-a-half hours.

Then a month later, he crossed the Red Sea from Egypt to Jordan, for the Asia to Africa portion, over a distance of 12 mi (19 km) in about 5 hours.

In July, he completed the 9 mi (14 km) journey from Europe to Asia, swimming the Strait of Gibraltar, in over five hours.

He is now heading to London to work as a radio and television commentator during the Paralympics.

The limbless Frenchman first attracted worldwide attention after swimming across the English Channel two years ago in a time of just over 13 hours.