FINA President Captain Husain Al-Musallam offered his support and presented today the medals at the 33rd Samsung Bosphorus Cross-Continental Swimming Race, the world’s only official swimming contest to cross from Asia to Europe.

2,465 swimmers from 55 countries took part in this iconic annual race on Sunday 22 August, which is increasingly popular since its inception in 1989 by the Turkish Olympic Committee (TOC). 

Image Source: The medallists in the race and the FINA President (on the left)

Nida Eliz Ustundag and Polat Uzer Turnali from Turkey were the winners of the 6.5km race today in 40m55s and 38m22s respectively.

On the back of this unique and prime example of the unifying power of sport, FINA congratulated the Organising Committee and the Turkish Olympic Committee for the excellent preparations and organisation of this prestigious open water event. 

FINA President Captain Al-Musallam said: “FINA’s new social responsibility means giving additional visibility to such events as we look forward to enhancing our future collaboration with our open water swimmers and all event organisers in this spectacular discipline”.

Speaking on the successful delivery of the event, TOC President and IOC Member Prof. Dr. Ugur Erdener, said: “The Samsung Bosphorus Cross-Continental Swimming Race brought together swimmers from around the world on the Bosphorus, giving them the unique opportunity to swim between two continents in one of the most beautiful cities in the world. We are very pleased to have successfully delivered this event, which provides lots of positive publicity for our country all over the world through sports, despite the ongoing pandemic.”