Wang Gangyi, a 44-year-old doctorate student from Dalian in northeast China's Liaoning Province, swam for 52 minutes, setting a world record for swimming in 1.4 C water.

"I feel fine," Wang said afterwards, as the people from China's Great Wall Station applauded his success.

Wang had been worried that he could not have a chance to fulfil his dream, as the winter will soon come in the area and the strait will be frozen.

After a two-hour rest following his arrival at King George Island, Wang began his adventure at 4:40, Thursday (Beijing time). Wang originally planned to realize his dream on the early morning of January 24 (China's lunar New Year's eve), to celebrate the coming of the country's first traditional new year of the new century.

His dream was to set two world records. One was to swim in the South Pole waters for about 45 minutes and the other to swim for about 30 minutes across Fields Detroit Strait.

Two years ago, A TV program about cod at the South Pole aroused his desire to swim there.

He has been training ever since, even during winter cold snaps.

When Wang arrived in Chile on January 19, he found he had just missed the last flight to King George Island. He had to stay at a hotel in Punta Arenas, and wait for the next flight on February 7.

One way to keep himself in shape was to immerse himself in a bathtub filled with cold water for half an hour every day in his hotel room, as it is summer in Chile.

(China Daily 02/09/2001)