Limbless swimmer completes feat

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DIOMEDE, Alaska, Aug. 18 (UPI) -- Frenchman Philippe Croizon, a quadruple amputee, successfully swam across the Bering Strait from the United States to Russia.

Croizon, 44, took about 1 hour, 20 minutes Friday to make it the approximately 2.5 miles from Little Diomede Island in Alaska to Big Diomede in Russia, Radio France Internationale reported.

He was accompanied by long-distance swimmer Arnaud Chassery, 35.

Their swim between America and Asia was their fourth between continents in the past three months, RFI said. They also swam from Papua New Guinea to Indonesia (Oceania to Asia), across the Red Sea from Egypt to Jordan (Africa to Asia) and from Spain to Morocco (Europe to Africa).

Croizon's arms and legs were amputated in 1994 after he was jolted by 20,000 volts while removing a TV antenna from a roof. He uses flippers attached to prosthetic limbs while swimming.

He said his swimming can be an inspiration to other disabled people.

"I tell them: 'Everything is possible, everything can be done when you have the will to go beyond yourself,'" he said. "We're all equal, disabled and non-disabled people on all continents."