As sounds of war echo across the Middle East — missile fire and strikes by fighter jets and drones — the white silence of Antarctica prevails on the other side of the world. Against that stark contrast, swimming instructor Shany Goldental, 38, jumped into water measuring less than 1 degree Celsius above freezing on Saturday and swam 750 meters among icebergs and penguins near the South Pole.
Behind the extreme experience were months of training, a complex safety operation and a significant financial investment: the voyage and swim as part of the expedition cost about $12,000. Over the past year, Goldental also attended training camps in Austria totaling about three weeks and raised funding for the project through a Headstart crowdfunding campaign.
Shany Goldental swimming with penguins
(Credit: Shelly Goldental)
“I swam in ice,” she said proudly in a phone interview with ynet from the deck of the ship anchored in Antarctica. “In the world of ice swimming, water at temperatures up to 5 degrees Celsius is considered ice water. But the temperature I swam in was just 0.9 degrees.”
Goldental’s original and ambitious goal was to swim a full kilometer.
“In practice, I managed to swim 750 meters,” she said. “But even that distance is a major achievement in those conditions. For me, it was a crazy moment — a dream come true.”
The extreme athlete says the feat is both a personal and a national milestone.
“I am the first Israeli woman to swim in Antarctica,” she said. “It’s something I told myself I wanted to do — to reach the end of the world and swim there.”
Extreme swimming in Antarctica’s icy waters does not begin with long distances. According to Goldental, swimmers must first complete a short test swim.
“The first time in the ice water was a 250-meter test swim. The idea is to check that we’re ready — that the body responds well to the cold and that we can handle the conditions.”
Only after that test comes the real attempt.
“After the test swim, when the weather allows, approval is given for the long swim,” she said. “But in Antarctica, the conditions change all the time.”
The swim itself does not start directly from the ship.
“You can’t just jump into the water from the ship and swim,” she explained. “It’s not safe, and it’s also not possible because of the ship’s structure and its systems.”
Instead, swimmers are transported to the water by small motorboats.
“We go out in Zodiacs to a location defined as safe,” she said. “There the distance is measured precisely and the course is marked.”
The safety operation surrounding the swim is extensive.
“There are always several boats around the swimmer — two boats on the sides, one on standby and another at the end of the distance we’re swimming. The course is about 250 meters out and back, and swimmers complete several loops to reach the distance they want.”
Beyond the radical athletic challenge, Goldental also describes a remarkable encounter with wild nature.
“There’s everything here,” she said. “Icebergs crashing, incredible bays, huge amounts of snow. We’ve seen penguins, seals, sea lions, whales and orcas. In terms of nature, it’s simply an incredible place.”
The obvious question is why anyone would put themselves through such hardship and risk by entering water this cold.
For Goldental, it is a personal journey.
“Ice swimming is a whole world,” she said. “It’s about pushing your own limits and discovering who you are in extreme situations.”
The dream was born only last year, she said. “Within a year I already got here and did it.”
She says the reason is also tied to reality in Israel.
“I think the war made me understand how fragile life is,” she said. “Friends of mine are being killed, half the people around me are in the reserves. You don’t have the privilege of waiting.”
And how did the ice swimmer feel after finishing the swim and leaving the water?
“It felt wonderful,” she said with a laugh. “I swam with penguins at the end of the world. What more could I ask for?”
Despite the extreme cold, swimmers use no special gear. Without thermal suits or insulating layers, the body confronts the freezing water unprotected.
“In ice swimming, according to the official rules, you’re only allowed a swimsuit, goggles and a cap,” she said.
One of Goldental’s main insights from the experience relates to the mental aspect.
“It’s 90% mental and only 10% physical,” she said. “I came to the swim with a lot of positive thoughts. I prepared as well as I could, and because I have experience in ice swimming, I knew how to approach it.”
Behind the remarkable experience, however, lies a real danger. The main risk in swimming in freezing water is hypothermia — a life-threatening condition in which the body’s temperature drops rapidly due to extreme heat loss.
In cold water the body loses heat very quickly, which can lead to uncontrollable shivering, confusion, loss of muscle control and eventually loss of consciousness and death.
Goldental stresses that the complex recovery phase begins immediately after leaving the water.
“After you get out of the water you can’t do anything by yourself,” she explained. “Several people immediately take care of you so the body doesn’t go into hypothermia.”
According to her, the body enters something like an emergency state.
“The body needs to recover, so there are people around you whose entire job is to watch over you.”
On the ship, a small group of ice swimmers from around the world gathered — from the United States, Italy, Bulgaria, Switzerland, Namibia, South Africa, Poland and other countries.
Despite their different backgrounds, Goldental said the atmosphere on board is simple and friendly. Conversations revolve mainly around swimming, the weather and the challenge of entering the freezing water — not politics or wars around the world.
“We’re very disconnected here,” she said, explaining why the war pushed her to pursue the dream quickly. “I felt I didn’t have time to wait. You never know when there will be a war or when something might happen.”