The Tunisian Libre water swimmer Nejib Belhedi is said to have achieved a new world performance at the age of 70 by traveling 155 km non -stop between the Italian island of Pantelleria and the coasts of Yasmine Hammamet Sud.
“Today I achieved a new world feat which is the result of a long work and perseverance,” said the Lieutenant-Colonel retired from the national army to the TAP agency.
“This performance, which will be added to the history of extreme swimming is also the fruit of a collective work of a group of volunteers who believed in me and accompanied me throughout this challenge to achieve this new Tunisian feat,” he added.
Belhédi who will celebrate his 70th anniversary in a month, had already taken up several challenges during his marathonal career which started in 1991 by crossing the distance of 20 km between Kerkennah and Sfax.
Except that this feat did not go unnoticed, and some have put it into question. It was the Ossusma Mellouli Olympic champion who first broke the silence, believing that it is “the biggest lie in the history of Tunisian sport”.
The swimmer Faten Ghattas also considered that it is a fictitious performance, for her, scientifically, this story is incredible. “The joke of the day…. April Fools…. Uhhhh, June fish…. 40 km swimming in 7:30 am… .. Osama mellouli gold medalist at the Olympic Games did 10 km in 2 hours so I will assume that a person would have the same shape and the same potential…. The same technique…. The same morphological data…. physiological…. Biomechanics… Same amplitude .. Same flexibility, same flotation… for 40 km…. He would put 8 a.m. which amounts to saying better than Mellouli who was under 30 years old…. And in full possession of his means, ”he posted on Facebook.
On social networks, this performance has also aroused many questions.
