LITTLE DIOMEDE ISLAND, Alaska -- Endurance athlete Lynne Cox survived an unprecedented swim across the Bering Strait Friday and emerged from the fog of the frigid waters to a warm greeting on the shores of a Soviet island.
Wearing only a bathing suit and cap, Cox, 30, became the first person to swim across the 2.7-mile stretch of water, completing the trip between Alaska's LIttle Diomede Island and Soviet-owned Big Diomede Island in about 2 hours and 5 minutes.
At the end, her body temperature had dipped to the dangerously low level of 94 degrees, her doctor said.
Cox reached the Soviet island, which was obscured by fog much of the way, at 5:02 p.m. EDT, accompanied by two walrus-skin boats with her American doctors and project team, including eight American Eskimo navigators. She spent several friendly hours there before returning by boat to the American island.
The Russians greeted Cox and her small entourage with gifts, a fish dinner, hot tea and coffee and Eskimo music, but Cox said she was was unable to enjoy the welcoming party on the beach at first because she was freezing.
'I was trying to get warm,' she said. 'I was real cold. But we had a great warm welcome.'
While Soviet scientists joined Cox's American doctors in the one-hour effort to rewarm her, Russians and Americans exchanged ivory, pins, broaches and other presents -- talking in various combinations of Russian, English, French and the Siberian Yupik Eskimo language. For the first time in many years, Soviet and American Eskimos from opposite sides of the Bering Strait met on Big Diomede.
Dr. William Keatinge, of the London Hospital Medical College, called Cox's swim 'an unqualified success' and said, 'The Russians pulled out all the stops.'
'It was real hard,' Cox said. 'I think that last part of it was the most difficult because the water seemed to drop four to five degrees suddenly.'
Dr. Jan Nyboer, a member of the medical team, said Cox's subcutaneous fat layer served as an 'internal wetsuit' to protect the 5-foot-6, 180-pound endurance swimmer.
Keatinge said Cox's temperature started falling half way across. When she reached the Russian shore, her temperature was down to 94 degrees -- the point when hypothermia sets in.
Cox, of Los Alamitos, Calif., survived the swim in 42-degree waters, cold enough to kill someone without a survival suit in two hours, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.
She swam relentlessly -- even faster than the 2 hours she predicted before slipping into the bone-chilling waters -- despite the fact that she actually swam farther than the 2.7 miles between the islands because she traveled from the southwest end of the American island to the southeast end of the Russian island.
Nyboer said Cox's subcutaneous fat layer served as an 'internal wetsuit' to protect the 5-foot-6, 180-pound endurance swimmer.
For Cox, who has broken English Channel records and performed swimming feats all over the world for 16 years, the swim was mostly an adventure. But for the medical researchers, there was much to be learned about how the woman could withstand the killing cold. They monitored her temperature along the way with a rectal thermometer connected to a wire.
The Soviets turned back six other boats of Alaska Eskimos who followed Cox to the U.S.-Soviet border. One-third of Little Diomede's 150 Eskimos poured into boats and sailed out to the international dateline, but the Soviets waved them back as they approached the border.
On the way back, the six boats temporarily got lost in the fog and ended up sailing almost to the Soviet island anyway before finding their way back to their Alaska island.
Eskimos on Little Diomede had sent up balloons to signal to the Soviets that Cox was heading their way, but it was uncertain whether the Soviets saw the wind-blown balloons in the fog.
The Soviets were ready anyway with two boats anchored off Big Diomede. They snt one to welcome Cox and guide her to the south shore of Big Diomede where tents were set up for her.
The fog was so thick at times that Big Diomede disappeared from view, but Cox kept swimming, relying on her Eskimo navigators in the two walrus-skin boats.
Cox, who has been eating high carbohydrate meals, had a bagel and apple juice breakast. She also has been eating a lot of peanut butter and pasta.
The general feeling on Little Diomede was that Cox's swim was impossible, but the Eskimos welcomed her warmly when she arrived Thursday night. There was a much disappointment when the mayor told villagers not to follow Cox across the border into Soviet territory. They went anyway.
The border Cox was permitted to swim across was once crossed freely by Eskimos in skin boats, but it has been closed for more than four decades. Two California men who walked across the ice unannounced in each of the last two winters were taken into Soviet custody and later released. Cox gave the Soviets ample warning of her plans and elicited their suppor and participation.
Doctors said Cox's unusual swim will teach them more about hypothermia or loss of body heat and about rewarming people immersed in freezing water for long periods.
