Thousands swim between continents in iconic Istanbul race

DW (English)

Did you know you can swim from Asia to Europe? That's exactly what nearly 3,000 people from all around the world did in Turkey's largest city Istanbul this weekend — in the famed Bosporus Cross-Continental Swimming Race.

Transcript

00:00Istanbul's iconic Bosphorus Strait is normally a very busy shipping lane, but once a year

00:08it belongs to swimmers.

00:13More than 2,800 people jumped at the challenge and swam from one continent to another on

00:18Sunday in what is one of the world's most popular open water races.

00:26The Bosphorus was closed to shipping traffic for a few hours, allowing participants to

00:31make the legendary 6.5-kilometer swim from Istanbul's Asian side to the finish line

00:38in Europe.

00:39It's pretty exciting even if you're only here as a spectator.

00:43The race's challenge is, by the way, not only its distance, but swimmers also need

00:47to navigate the powerful currents, otherwise they risk being swept away and not making

00:52it across the finish line.

00:56Some contestants are professional swimmers, others brave amateurs, and they have trained

01:01extensively for this day.

01:04The tradition began in 1989 with just a few dozen swimmers.

01:08This year, participants came from more than 70 different countries.

01:12It was something that I wanted to do for six years, and now I've finally made my dream

01:17come true.

01:18You can get from one continent to the other continent just by swimming.

01:23I think that's really fantastic, and that was the aim for me.

01:27You need to find the current, the right current.

01:29You need to have a reference point that is absolutely fundamental, and then just a sprint

01:35at the end.

01:36So, yeah, it was a success.

01:40This year's cross-continental champion comes from Turkey.

01:43Atakan Arcan swam the 6.5 kilometers in 45 minutes and 27 seconds.

01:50The fastest woman was Talia Erdogan, who finished in just under 47 minutes.

01:59But for many here, it's not so much about winning, but about coming together and sharing

02:07a unique experience in these famous waters between two continents.

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