An Oxford University medical graduate from Malaysia created history after achieving a remarkable feat of swimming across the Straits of Gibraltar, which is considered by many as ‘the Everest of open water swimming’.

Lennard Lee, who has just finished his medical degree and set to receive his graduation scroll this weekend, was joined by his Oxford colleagues Nicholas Berry and Harry Fisher to swim a distance of 22km from Gibraltar to Morocco.

They accomplished the mission in three hours and thirty eight minutes, and joined the list of other only 185 people in the world who have crossed the straits. Lennard became the first Asian to have completed the feat.

Four years ago, Lennard also made name after swimming across the English Channel. While the English Channel has a longer distance, the Gibraltar Straits presented a greater risk, with the danger of freezing temperature, sharks and killer whales. The straits separates Europe from Africa, connecting the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea.

Oxford University is a highly reputable institution in a myriad of academic fields, and was ranked as the third best medical school in United Kingdom for the 2008/2009 by The Guardian, after Dundee and Cambridge.

Image (from left: Nick, Lennard and Harry) credit to OxfordMail.net.

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