Rabat – Moroccan swimmer Hassan Baraka has set a Guinness World Record for being the first person in the world to swim across the Gulf of Aqaba, northeastern arm of the Red Sea between Saudi Arabia and the Sinai Peninsula.
In a video posted on his YouTube channel on October 30, Baraka recalled the 2014 swimming experience to cross the Gulf of Aqaba in 8 hours and 30 minutes as “certainly the most challenging of my experiences.”
He also recalled other difficulties he faced “for obtaining authorization in a zone filled with tensions between four countries (Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Israel and Jordan), and the difficult logistical organization.”
After “7 years of patience,” the Moroccan swimmer said, his Guinness World Record certificate finally arrived in Morocco from the UK on October 27.
“The fastest time to swim the length of the Aqaba gulf is 8 hours 30 minutes and 42 seconds and was achieved by Hassan Baraka (Morocco), in Dahab (Egypt) to Macna (Saudi Arabia) on 21 October 2014,” says the certificate.
The Moroccan swimmer thanked all the people who helped him achieve the record and those who believed in him.
“It is a childhood dream. When I was younger, at the end of each year I would ask my parents to buy me a Guinness Books book to watch people doing the most spectacular actions on the planet,” he said.
Born in Tetouan in 1987, Hassan Baraka is the youngest Moroccan swimmer who succeeded in swimming across the strait of Gibraltar in 4hours and 1 minute.
He is also the first Moroccan to finish the World Marathon, a multi-event competition that consists of running 7 marathons on 7 continents in 7 days. In addition, Baraka holds the record for the swim crossing of both Bosphorus and Gibraltar Straits.
A holder of a Master’s Degree in Business Administration and sport activities from Toulouse, France, the swimmer is also a motivational coach and author of “The Force of Failure.”
