Antonio Abertondo

Antonio Abertondo is an inductee in the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame, Honor Swimmer in the Class of 1964

Antonio Abertondo

Antonio Abertondo (1 August 1918 – 6 July 1978) is a marathon swimmer from Argentina who was inducted in the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame in 1964 as an Honour Swimmer. He is a member of the 24-hour club and has done two Oceans Seven channels.

Open Water Swimming Career

From 1932 to 1967, Abertondo swam many marathon swims in Argentina.
In 1941, he successfully crossed Rio de la Plata in 29+ hours.
His five English Channel crossings were made during the 1950, 1951 and 1954 Daily Mail races, and in 1961 when he became the first person to do a double-crossing of the English Channel in 43 hours 10 minutes (with a 4-minute onshore rest on the shores of France).
On 22 August 1950, he completed the Daily Mail International Cross Channel Swimming Race from France to England in 16 hours 25 minutes at the age of 32.
On 22 September 1952, he completed a crossing of the Strait of Gibraltar from Spain to Morocco in 7 hours 42 minutes at the age of 32.
On 16 August 1951, he completed the Daily Mail International Cross Channel Swimming Race from France to England in 14 hours 14 minutes at the age of 33.
On 21 August 1954, he completed the Butlins International Cross Channel Swimming Race from France to England in 16 hours 54 minutes at the age of 36.
On 21 September 1961, he completed the first two-way crossing of the English Channel from England to France to England in 43 hours 10 minutes with a 4-minute rest on the shores of France at the age of 43 under the auspices of the Channel Swimming Association.

Egyptian, 34-year-old Mareeh Hassan Hamad, won the 1951 Daily Mail race in 12 hours 12 minutes by 1 minute over Frenchman Roger Le Morvan. The results were as follows:

1. Mareeh Hassan Hamad (Egypt) 12:12
2. Roger Le Morvan (France) 12:13
3. Hassan Abdel Rehim (Egypt) - 12:25
4. Saied El Arabi (Egypt) 12:42
5. Jason Zirganos (Greece) 14:01
6. Jan Van Hemsbergen (Netherlands) 14:03
7. Sally Bauer (Sweden) 14:04
8. Antonio Abertondo (Argentina) 14:14
9. William E. (Ned) Barnie (Scotland) 15:01
10. Jenny Kammersgaard (Denmark) 15:38
11. Daniel Carpio (Peru) 23:05