André Payraud

André Payraud (* 1947 or 1948 ) is a French extreme athlete.

Payraud, born into a large family as the ninth of 15 children, moved into the public eye through various extreme sporting performances. In 1982 he laid the foundation stone when he swam down a river on Mount Everest at an altitude of 5,160 meters . This earned him the title of "highest swimmer in the world" in the Guinness Book of Records . In 1985 and 1986 he trained first in India in the Ganges and then in the Colorado River in the USA. Another record company followed in 1992. From the source of the Arve on the 4810 meter high Mont Blanc it reached the sea by swimming or drifting to the mouth of the Rhone 800 kilometers away . He crossed Lake Geneva at a speed of 4.5 km / h , with a team of five accompanying him in the rubber dinghy. He was dressed or equipped with a neoprene suit, fins, helmet and a rubber tire that was supposed to protect him from floating debris and ledges. The undertaking, the cost of which was 100,000 DM covered by two company sponsors ("Scipa" from Geneva and "May-Top" from Strasbourg), lasted a total of 24 days. He spent up to 7 hours a day in the water. Payraud is also the author of the book J'ai nagé pour la paix: Mont Blanc, Himalaya, Gange, Argentine, Colorado, Jourdain .

literature

• "800 kilometers of swimming - from Montblanc to the Mediterranean" by Peter Hesseler, Sport-Bild from December 22, 1992, p. 46f