David Meca Medina (born 1 February 1974) is a long distance

swimmer Swimming is an individual or team racing sport that requires the use of one's entire body to move through water. The sport takes place in pools or open water (e.g., in a sea or lake). Competitive swimming is one of the most popular Olympic ...

from

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

, who has swum from mainland Spain to

Ibiza Ibiza (; ; ; #Names and pronunciation, see below) or Iviza is a Spanish island in the Mediterranean Sea off the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. It is 150 kilometres (93 miles) from the city of Valencia. It is the third largest of th ...

among his exploits. He won gold at the 2005 FINA World Championships in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

for the men's open water 25 km. Meca took silver in the 5 km event at the 2000 World Championships in

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

. He also won silver in the 25 km competition and a bronze in the 10 km at the

2003 World Aquatics Championships The 10th FINA World Aquatics Championships were held July 12–27, 2003 in Barcelona, Spain. The championships featured competition in all 5 of FINA's disciplines: Swimming, Diving, Synchronised swimming, Water Polo, and Open Water Swimming. ...

Barcelona, Spain Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a pop ...

. Meca served a one-year ban on every competition and a four-year ban on championships following a positive test for

nandrolone Nandrolone, also known as 19-nortestosterone, is an endogenous androgen. It is also an anabolic steroid (AAS) which is medically used in the form of esters such as nandrolone decanoate (brand name Deca-Durabolin) and nandrolone phenylpropionate ...

, a banned performance enhancer, in 1999. He was able to participate in World Championships in year 2000 because the sanction had not then been confirmed by the

FINA World Aquatics, formerly known as FINA (; ), is the international federation recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for administering international competitions in List of water sports, water sports. It is one of several interna ...

. The sanction that was finally lifted because the swimmer was considered ''clean'', after a long battle to prove his innocence. It was during the time of this sanction that he started focusing on challenges which nobody had done before. He swam from mainland Spain to Ibiza (about 80 miles or 129 km), in more than 27 hours swimming non-stop; and swam from Alcatraz to mainland San Francisco in less than 3 hours. Meca successfully swam the

English Channel The English Channel, also known as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates Southern England from northern France. It links to the southern part of the North Sea by the Strait of Dover at its northeastern end. It is the busi ...

on 10 August 2004 in 7 h 46 mins, and again on 29 August 2005 in 7 h 22 mins.Dover Life Channel Swimming - Successful Crossings
He swims for the Club Natació Sabadell.

References

External links

Official website
1974 births Living people Swimmers from Catalonia Doping cases in swimming Spanish male long-distance swimmers English Channel swimmers Spanish sportspeople in doping cases World Aquatics Championships medalists in open water swimming Sportspeople from Sabadell {{Spain-swimming-bio-stub

See also

References

External links