Mervyn Sharp Talks About Achieving His Childhood Dream On WOWSA Live
Mervyn Sharp Talks About Achieving His Childhood Dream On WOWSA Live
Sponsored by KAATSU, Huntington Beach, California.
Mervyn Sharp talked achieving his childhood dream of swimming the English Channel with International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame chairperson Ned Denison on today’ edition of WOWSA Live.
The former King of the Channel and talked about the following on his entertaining interview:
* staying in the water all day as a child
* having a childhood dream of swimming across the English Channel
* playing water polo as a goalkeeper in his youth
* wrestling as dryland training as an intermediate heavyweight
* Godfrey Chapman in the 1951 Daily Mail race across the English Channel
* learning about Tom Watch who trained Weymouth swimmers including Greg Schofield in 1964 and 16-year-old Phil Gollop in 1965 who both inspired him to attempt a swim across the English Channel
* being guided into St. Margaret’s Bay by listening to car horns to finish his first crossing of the English Channel
* eating ‘proper food’ and having a banquet of food like ham sandwiches, cheese sandwiches, chocolate bars, tins of creamed rice and chicken legs on his long feeding breaks across the English Channel
* enjoying the professional marathon swimming circuit with the World Professional Marathon Swimming Federation competitors
* being humbled and honored at the International Swimming Hall of Fame
* admitting the very specific reason why he cannot serve as an observer of channel swims
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Southern California native, born 1962, is the creator of the WOWSA Awards, Oceans Seven, Openwaterpedia, Citrus Corps, World Open Water Swimming Association, Daily News of Open Water Swimming, Global Open Water Swimming Conference. He is Chief Executive Officer of KAATSU Global and KAATSU Research Institute. Inductee in the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame (Honor Swimmer, Class of 2001) and Ice Swimming Hall of Fame (Honor Contributor – Media, Class of 2019), recipient of the International Swimming Hall of Fame’s Poseidon Award (2016), International Swimming Hall of Fame’s Irving Davids-Captain Roger Wheeler Memorial Award (2010), USA Swimming’s Glen S. Hummer Award (2007, 2010) and Harvard University’s John B. Imrie Award (1984). Served on the FINA Technical Open Water Swimming Committee and as Technical Delegate with the 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games, and 9-time USA Swimming coaching staff.