Editing Martin Strel (section)

== Swimming history ==
Strel was born in the town of [[Mokronog-Trebelno|Mokronog]], in the [[Slovenia]]n region of [[Lower Carniola]], then part of the [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia]]. 
Strel's first two river swims were the [[Krka (Slovenia)|Krka]] river (105&nbsp;kilometres) in his homeland, in 28 hours in 1992, and the boundary [[Kupa (river)|Kolpa]] river ({{convert|62|km|abbr=on}}), in 16 hours in 1993. In 2000, he swam the [[Danube River]] ({{convert|2860|km|abbr=on}}) and achieved the world long distance swimming record ({{convert|3004|km}}) in 58 days. In July 2001, he achieved one more world record — {{convert|504.5|km}} of non-stop swimming in Danube within 84 hours and 10 minutes. He lost 40 pounds of weight.

In 2002, he swam the entire [[Mississippi River]] ({{convert|3885|km|abbr=on}}) in 68 days. In 2003, he swam the Argentine [[Paraná River]] ({{convert|3998|km}}). On 10 June 2004, Martin started swimming down the [[Yangtze River]] ({{convert|4003|km|abbr=on}}, the longest river in Asia, the third longest in the world) in [[China]]. He reached [[Shanghai]] in 40 days on 30 July 2004, one day before planned.

Strel swam the [[Amazon River]], commencing on 1 February 2007,<ref name=yahooJan192006>{{cite news
 |url=https://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070119/od_uk_nm/oukoe_uk_swimmer_amazon 
 |title=Buckets of blood readied for Amazon swim 
 |publisher=[[Yahoo! News]] 
 |author=Andrei Khalip 
 |date=January 19, 2007 
 |access-date=2007-01-20 
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070126072245/http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070119/od_uk_nm/oukoe_uk_swimmer_amazon 
 |archive-date=January 26, 2007 
 |url-status=dead 
}}</ref> finishing 66 days later on 7 April 2007.<ref>{{cite news
|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6536283.stm
|title=Slovenian completes Amazon swim
|work=[[BBC News]]
|date=7 April 2007
|access-date=2007-04-09}}</ref> This was a record-breaking distance of {{convert|5268|km|abbr=on}},<ref>{{cite web|title=Longest journey swim|url=http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/2000/longest-journey-swimming|publisher=Guinness World Records|access-date=1 March 2014}}</ref> longer than the width of the [[Atlantic Ocean]]. He had escort boats that were prepared to pour blood into the river to distract meat-eating fish such as [[piranha]]s.<ref>{{cite video
|people=John Maringouin (director)
|title=Big River Man
|date=2009 }}</ref>

In 2007, the [[Nile]] had been proposed as his next river, but Strel said, "I am not going to do the Nile. It's long but not challenging enough, it is just a small creek. The Amazon is much more mighty."<ref>{{cite news
|last=Muello
|first=Peter
|title=Man Swims 3,272-Mile Amazon in 65 Days
|publisher=Associated Press
|date=April 7, 2007
|url=http://news.aol.com/topnews/articles/_a/man-swims-3272-mile-amazon-in-65-days/20070407161709990001?ncid=NWS00010000000001}}</ref>

He plans to swim across [[Lake Arenal]] on 29 September 2010 as part of his visit to an environmentalist international film festival in [[Costa Rica]]. He plans to swim about 6 kilometres from shore and then back to his starting point.<ref>{{cite news |title=Reconocido ambientalista esloveno nadará en el lago Arenal |first=Pablo |last=Fonseca |language=es |newspaper=La Nación |date=27 September 2010 |url=http://www.nacion.com/2010-09-27/AldeaGlobal/UltimaHora/AldeaGlobal2537040.aspx |location=San José, Costa Rica |trans-title=Renowned Slovenian environmentalist will swim in Lake Arenal}}</ref>

In June 2011 Strel completed his Colorado River Swim challenge for the documentary ''[[Stan Lee's Superhumans]]'' More about the swim can be found at: [http://grandcanyonswim.com Colorado Swim 2011].

Achievements by year:
*2008: Sognefjord, Norway; Loch Ness, UK
*2009: Doha, Qatar; River Thames, UK; River Cam, UK
*2010: Grand Canyon, Arizona, US; Lake Mead, Nevada/Arizona, US
*2011: Lake Ontario, Canada; Lake Simcoe, Canada; Lake Arenal, Costa Rica; San Juan River, Costa Rica
*2012: Saguaro Lake, Arizona, US; Canyon Lake, Arizona, US; Apache Lake, Arizona, US Theodore Roosevelt Lake, Arizona, US
*2013: Lake Powell, Arizona/Utah, US; Robben Island, South Africa
*2014: Bondi Beach, Australia; Shelly Beach, Australia
*2015: Lake Pleasant, Arizona, US; Tennessee River, Tennessee, US
*2016: Rocky Point, Mexico; Alkhobar (Saudi Arabia) – Manamma (Bahrain)
*2017: Manhattan, New York, US; Lake Wörth, Austria
*2018: Alcatraz – Golden Gate Bridge, US
*2019: Farallon Islands, California, US
*2020: San Diego River, California, US
*2021: Mura River, Slovenia