Bosphorus Cross Continental Swim

Bosphorus Cross Continental Swim
Boğaziçi Kıtalararası Yüzme Yarışı
at the
Course of the Bosphorus Intercontinental Swim in the Istanbul Strait, Turkey.
Location Bosphorus, Istanbul, Turkey

The Bosphorus Cross Continental Swim (Turkish: Boğaziçi Kıtalararası Yüzme Yarışı) is an open water swimming event between the continents Europe and Asia held annually at Bosphorus, Istanbul, Turkey. Established in 1989, the event is organized by the Turkish Olympic Committee and sponsored by Samsung.[1]

History

The event was held for the first time on July 23, 1989 and 64 men and 4 women took part. The next year, the course's start was relocated from Çubuklu to Kanlıca, extending the distance to 6.5 km (4.0 mi). In 1992, the event became international with the participation of 22 swimmers from Czechoslovakia and two from the United States. The course record was set in 2006 by Turkish swimmers Alişan Alaşlı in the men's category with 39:07.11 and Beren Kayrak in the women's category with 40:50.35. Since 2010, every swimmer completing the course receives a certificate titled "Intercontinental Swimmer".[2]

Notable swimmers

Many notable swimmers from all over the world have entered the event during its history. In 2012, American swimmer Mark Spitz, nine-time Olympic champion, and former world record-holder in seven events, was a guest, and performed shows.[3] In 2013, Australian Olympic gold medalist swimmer Ian Thorpe was also a competitor.[4]

Turkish woman Fatma Nazan Göğen has taken part every year since its beginning in 1989. Turkish Levent Aksüt has been the oldest swimmer so far at the age of 85.[5] Local sportsman Hasan Eskioğlu holds the record for the most victories at ten times, of which seven were in a row.[2]

Participation

More than 2,000 swimmers, including over 500 females with half of them being foreigners, from over 50 countries participate at the event.[1][2] Currently, the number of foreign swimmers is limited to 1,000, and only up to 300 are permitted to participate from each country. There are 12 age categories for each gender, from the age of 14 to 70 and over.[6]

Course

The route starts at the Pier of Kanlıca, north of the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge, in the Asian part of Istanbul, runs southwards, and finishes at Cemil Topuzlu Park in Kuruçeşme, north of the Bosphorus Bridge, in the European part of the city.[1][7][8]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "27. Samsung Boğaziçi Kıtalararası Yüzme Yarışı". Fanatik (in Turkish). 2015-07-26. Retrieved 2016-06-09.
  2. 1 2 3 "History of the Bosphorus Cross-continental Races". Turkish Olympic Committee. Retrieved 2016-06-09.
  3. ↑ Dalgalıdere, Serhat (2012-07-14). "Mark Spitz'den İstanbul Boğazı'nda yüzme şovu". Cihan News Agency (in Turkish). Retrieved 2016-06-10.
  4. ↑ "Rekortmen şampiyon Boğaz'da". Hürriyet (in Turkish). 2013-07-06. Retrieved 2016-06-10.
  5. ↑ Ocak, Serkan (2014-07-24). "Boğazın suları engel tanımaz". Hürriyet (in Turkish). Retrieved 2016-06-10.
  6. ↑ "Application Rules". Turkish Olympic Committee. Retrieved 2016-06-09.
  7. ↑ "Route". Turkish Olympic Committee. Retrieved 2016-06-09.
  8. ↑ "Önemli Duyuru" (in Turkish). Samsung Boğaziçi Kıtalararası Yüzme Yarışı. Retrieved 2016-07-23.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.