Last weekend, in between depressing news about the economy and the continued sagas of Michael Phelps and Alex Rodriguez, an inspirational story appeared on the AP news wire. It detailed American Jennifer Figge's accomplishment in becoming the first woman to swim across the Atlantic Ocean. Many media outlets jumped on the story that seemed almost too good to be true. That's because it was.
The AP originally reported that Figge swam from the Cape Verde Islands off the coast of Africa to Trinidad (2,100 miles) in 25 days while escorted by a boat. She was said to have rested every night and hopped back in the water in the morning.
What escaped most news outlets (who repeated the story without doing the most basic fact checking) is that swimming 2,100 miles in 25 days is physically impossible. Michael Phelps swimming at sprint speed would take about 20 days to cover that distance. And that's his fastest pace, sustained for three weeks, without ever stopping.
As it turns out, Figge swam only a fraction of the 2,100-mile journey. The rest of the time, she rested on her crew's westward-sailing catamaran. Her spokesman [said] that her total swimming distance has not been calculated yet, but that due to ocean hazards including inclement weather, he estimates she swam about 250 miles.
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