Watch: Neil Agius Shares Struggles And Inspiration From Record-Breaking Challenge
Neil Agius gave his first public address following his Gozo 7 colossal challenge in a press conference hosted by Jon Mallia at Kai.zen Hub.
The Gozo 7 saw Agius performing seven swims over seven consecutive days in Gozo, taking on a monumental challenge that science deemed nearly impossible. In this endeavour, the record-breaking swimmer tested his limits to explore the full potential of the human body.
“At around day six, I got stuck into the adrenaline of all that was happening around me and what happened was that I overexerted myself, I pushed myself to not stay in my lane and I was going too fast,” said Agius.
The record-breaker swimmer said that this situation can be seen in other situations in life like when we’re trying to chase deadlines. “I was dragging my soul and my body in the sea to get to the final destination.”
He went on to say that after sleeping for 1 or 2 hours a day and swimming or in other cases working for 15 hours, he was not capable of making decisions.
When asked whether he experienced fear ahead or during the challenge to which he said that “fear came in from day zero. There wasn’t a point when I wasn’t afraid. On day one, I thought this was a bad idea. On day two, I was certain it was a bad idea.”
Doctors that had followed his athletic journey over the last eight years were advising him to slow down for the first time ever which made him doubt whether he was about to do too much before commencing the challenge.
Mallia went on to ask Agius to share his deepest darkest moment during the challenge.
“I was standing in Dwejra about to start swim number seven and Lara was putting creams on my body seeing how in pain I was. But once I touched the water, it was like I went through this forcefield of energy and that is what pushed me through.”
When asked about why he does such challenges, Agius said that he believes there is so much beauty and inspiration seeing someone go through something like this and use it to keep progressing. He said that even If it’s a tiny step forward, it could help someone bounce off of someone else’s inspirational experiences.
Jon Mallia highlighted a message that was received by the team describing Agius as a hero. Neil commented on this message saying that he doesn’t view himself like this and went on to say that people view him in different ways depending on their life experiences and perspectives.
The message went on to say that Neil inspired the person to rediscover a part of themselves they lost as they rejoined their running club after they followed Neil’s journey. When Jon asked how did this comment made Neil feel, Neil said “It makes it all worth it.”
Did this colossal challenge inspire you ?
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