Each year the global open water swimming community selects a number open water swimmers for a some special awards.
The WOWSA Awards are given not simply to the best athletes, but to those individuals who best embody the spirit of open water swimming, possess the sense of adventure, tenacity and perseverance that open water swimmers are known for around the world and have most positively influenced the open water swimming community during the year.
The main competitors for the Man of the Year 2012 title, at the present state of voting, seem to be Steven Redmond (Ireland), Benjamin Schulte (Guam) and Wayne Soutter (South Africa), with Italian Salvatore Cimmino currently in 4th position.
Cimmino has been nominated for his initiative “Swimming in the Seas of the Globe”, a series of swimming feats in chosen locations round the world, dedicated to increasing public awareness about the day-to-day difficulties faced by the disabled and to press for widening availability of the best prosthetic aids, to campaign for a meaningful and dignified life for all persons, whatever their condition.
Salvatore is a fresh-faced 48-year-old born in Torre Annunziata near Naples, married, with a 13-year old son, who talks modestly about his open water swims, which include crossing the English Channel, the 17 km. length of Lake Tiberias, 21 km. between Italy and Slovenia, 20 km. in cold water around Vancouver, and the Cook Strait in New Zealand. This year he swam in Congo's Lake Kivu from Kiumba to Idjwi Island and, his latest feat, last September, was a 30 km. stretch in cold and difficult waters in the Boston Bay.
At the age of 15, Salvatore had his right leg amputated at mid thigh because of an osteosarcoma. Many years later, around the age of 40, he took up swimming on his doctor's advice. Back then, the doctor could have never imagined him swimming 30 km. in Lake Kivu! This experience in the war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo, where loss of limbs is unfortunately quite common and people, including many children, cannot get the best care and prosthetic technology, has filled Salvatore Cimmino's heart with the desire to make his voice heard and to use his initiatives to help those without voice in the world to have their say.
He speaks with enthusiasm about the possibilities today's technology can or could give to many, enabling a full and active life. According to him, the world cannot afford to have a large part of the population inactive, people who could become independent and productive citizens just with the right investment of whichever country they belong to.
His swimming feats are not only personal challenges, but a way to challenge all those who have the power to ensure that the disabled receive the best care and the most advanced prosthetics, and above all, full consideration as persons.
Talking about the Swimming in the Seven Seas of the Globe project, he explains:
“Rather than a project, it's a dream. Today's technology in the field of prosthetics has achieved really advanced results: the new devices can give a quality of life that could not be imagined a few years ago, greatly reducing problems of mobility, incorrect posture and deambulation. This dream consists in making the new frontiers of the latest technologies known and making them available to everyone.”
When asked which project has had the greatest effect on him, he replied:
“Many places remain in my heart, I would say, practically all of them. The bond created in the course of this experience is above all an emotional one, and I cannot think of anyone in particular – and I have seen wonderful places – without linking it to the people I met there, people with whom there is now a shared project, hope for the future and a strong desire to reinvent life in different terms. All this, I have to say, in the kind of places you dream about: I'm thinking of New Zealand, of dawn on Lake Kivu, or of the dolphins swimming with me in the Straits of Gibraltar. Maybe the African sky at night, when you can touch the stars with a finger, left a really lasting impression on me.”
The next event in the Swimming in the Seven Seas of the Globe project will take place in Australia in February 2013 , with a 20 km. swim across the Rottnest Strait from Cottesloe near Perth, to Rottnest Island.
There is also an up-coming project here in Italy: in July 2013 Salvatore will attempt a 30 km. swim the length of the Cinque Terre, from Punta Mesco past Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore to Cape Montenero.
To support Salvatore Cimmino’s Swimming in the Seven Seas of the Globe project visit his website www.salvatorecimmino.it to vote for him on the WOWSA website. Voting will go on till December 31st, 2012.
