Sponsored by the Technion:

Italian Swimmer Who Lost a Leg to Lead Swim of Hundreds of Swimmers in Lake Kinneret from Kfar Nahum to Ein Gev

Salvatore Cimino, a swimmer from Italy who lost his leg, will lead hundreds of swimmers from Italy and Israel in a swim in Lake Kinneret sponsored by the Technion. The 20-km swim will be from Kfar Nahum to Ein Gev. Taking part will be Technion students alongside disabled swimmers from Israel and Italy.

The swim will take place on May 7, 2010 and is intended, according to Salvatore Cimino, “to promote Israel-Italy relations and the rights of the disabled around the world, and to once again prove that the disabled can also lead normal lives.”

“I visited the Technion and saw the impressive developments taking place in its laboratories,” explains the Italian swimmer. “R&D for the benefit of the disabled is very important and therefore I am pleased that the Technion agreed to sponsor this big swim.”

Salvatore Cimino started swimming only four year ago after his leg was amputated due to a malignant illness. “I was suffering from terrible pain,” he relates. “The doctors gave up trying to help me. Then, one doctor recommended swimming. Until then, I was not a swimmer. I barely knew to float. I started swimming and the pains went away. My quality of life changed so much it was unrecognizable. My first swim was from Capri to Sorrento (24 km) on July 15, 2006. Since then I swam across the English Channel (40 km) and the Straits of Gibraltar (17 km). I did the distance between Capri and Naples (38 km), Copenhagen and Malmo (36 km), and Croatia and Trieste (36 km).”

Today, he swims 10 km daily. “Those with disabilities should not be dependent on society,” he says. “If this message will come out of Israel – it will have more weight. Today, there are more new products that make life easier for the disabled. But many do not know about them. I injured my spinal cord because the device I had was inappropriate. There are 600 million disabled in the world, 200 million of them in Europe. Six percent of them are children. When I see child amputees – it breaks my heart. I don’t want them to suffer like me.”

Yaron Prager, director of the Technion’s Sports Unit, welcomed the Italian swimmer’s initiative. The coach of the Technion swimming team, Boris Godovich, said that 15 students from the Technion swimming team will be taking part in the swim.