David Meca Medina (born 1 February 1974 in

Sabadell Sabadell () is a city in Catalonia, Spain. It is in the south of the ''comarca'' of Vallès Occidental and its joint capital (co-capital), on the River Ripoll, north of Barcelona. Sabadell is located above sea level. Sabadell pioneered the Ind ...

) 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, who has swum from mainland Spain to

Ibiza Ibiza (natively and officially in ca, Eivissa, ) is a Spanish island in the Mediterranean Sea off the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. It is from the city of Valencia. It is the third largest of the Balearic Islands, in Spain. Its l ...

among his exploits. He won gold at the

2005 FINA World Championships The 2005 World Aquatics Championships (french: Championnats du monde de natation 2005) or the XI FINA World Championships were held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada from July 16 to July 31, 2005. They took place in Parc Jean-Drapeau on Saint Helen's I ...

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

Barcelona, Spain Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

. Meca served a one-year ban on every competition and a four-year ban on championships following a positive test for nandrolone, 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. 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 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
/ref> He swims for the Club Natació Sabadell.

References

External links

Official website
1974 births Living people Swimmers from Catalonia Doping cases in swimming 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