Speaker 1: Welcome to Spotlight Advanced.
Speaker 2: I'm Patrick Woodward and I'm Megan Nolette. Spotlight uses a
Speaker 2: special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people
Speaker 2: to understand no matter where in the world they live.
Speaker 1: Philippe Quason swims in very cold water. The sea is dark,
Speaker 1: the waves are high. He is in the far North.
Speaker 1: He's crossing the Bearing Strait. Finally he reaches dry land.
Speaker 1: It has been the most difficult swim in his life,
Speaker 1: but he has finished. He has crossed the seas separating
Speaker 1: Asia and North America.
Speaker 2: It is a major success for anyone, but it is
Speaker 2: it's an even greater success for Philippe Croezon. Croezon has
Speaker 2: no arms and no legs. Today's spotlight is on Philip Croezon.
Speaker 2: His successes show us that we can all achieve great things,
Speaker 2: no matter who we are.
Speaker 1: Philippe Quason was twenty sixty years old when he had
Speaker 1: an accident. He was working to fix a television wire.
Speaker 1: He climbed to the top of his house on a
Speaker 1: metal ladder, but he accidentally touched a power line. The
Speaker 1: electric shock went through the ladder. It set his arms
Speaker 1: and legs on fire. A neighbor found him twenty minutes later,
Speaker 1: his arms and legs were burned so badly that they
Speaker 1: stuck to the metal.
Speaker 2: The doctors tried to save Croezon's arms and legs, but
Speaker 2: they could not. The doctors had to remove both of
Speaker 2: his arms and both of his legs. They left parts
Speaker 2: of both arms and legs, but not enough to walk
Speaker 2: or use his arms. Croison had been a healthy young man,
Speaker 2: but now he was disabled. Talking about this much later,
Speaker 2: Croezon told the BBC.
Speaker 3: When they cut off my last leg, I wanted to die.
Speaker 3: I was so depressed. My spirit was as low as
Speaker 3: you can get. But you have to choose, and I
Speaker 3: chose to live.
Speaker 1: While he was recovering in the hospital, Quaison saw a
Speaker 1: television program. It was about a woman who had been
Speaker 1: swimming across the English Channel. This is the sea that
Speaker 1: separates France from England. After watching the Programquason wondered if
Speaker 1: he could do the same thing.
Speaker 2: Croison decided to make crossing the channel his new goal.
Speaker 2: It took two years to prepare and a lot of
Speaker 2: hard work. He exercised every day to make himself strong,
Speaker 2: and he spent a lot of time in the water.
Speaker 2: He used special equipment to replace his hands and his feet.
Speaker 2: The equipment attached to his stumps what remained of his
Speaker 2: arms and legs. This helped him to push against the
Speaker 2: water and swim. He would swim for about five hours
Speaker 2: every day.
Speaker 1: Finally, in twenty ten, Quason was ready. He entered the cold,
Speaker 1: gray sea of the English Channel. He was now forty
Speaker 1: two years old. It took him from early morning until
Speaker 1: night to swim the distance. His body ached, but he continued.
Speaker 1: He became the first person without arms and legs to
Speaker 1: swim between France and England. Quason had achieved his dream,
Speaker 1: but he did not stop there. He searched for a
Speaker 1: new goal.
Speaker 2: Early in twenty twelve, he announced a new project. It
Speaker 2: was called the Intercontinental Straits Swimming Challenge. He planned to
Speaker 2: swim across the seas that joined five major continents. His
Speaker 2: friend Arnaud Chasseris would join him. Chassary was experienced in
Speaker 2: swimming long distances. The two men trained hard together. They
Speaker 2: worked as a team. Croizon told the BBC.
Speaker 3: When it comes to training, Arnault has to put my
Speaker 3: special equipment on me. On Land, I am just a
Speaker 3: big baby. But a big part of this project is
Speaker 3: the unity between Arnau and me. What I do. Arno
Speaker 3: does what he does I do. We remove what makes
Speaker 3: us different. In the water, we are the same. We
Speaker 3: are both human.
Speaker 1: Together. The two men swam many kilometers. They swam between
Speaker 1: the four continents of Australia, Asia, Africa and Europe, and
Speaker 1: finally they swam in the cold waters of the Bearing
Speaker 1: Strait between America and Russia. They had completed the challenge.
Speaker 2: Croezon hopes his success will change attitudes. He wants people
Speaker 2: to have better attitudes towards those who are disabled. He
Speaker 2: told Ability News.
Speaker 3: I want to show that disability is not the end,
Speaker 3: that a person who has a disability can accept this
Speaker 3: and be happy.
Speaker 1: But Quason was not finished showing what he could do.
Speaker 1: In twenty seventeen, he announced that he would race in
Speaker 1: the Dakar Rally. This famous car race is one of
Speaker 1: the most difficult in the world. The twenty seventeen route
Speaker 1: went between Paraguay, Bolivia, and Argentina. It went through deserts
Speaker 1: and mountains, but the route did not use roads or highways.
Speaker 1: The entire race was off road.
Speaker 2: It took Crouezon twelve days to complete the Dakar Rally.
Speaker 2: He drove a car designed just for him, but the
Speaker 2: race cost him greatly. Most days he was driving more
Speaker 2: than fourteen hours. He found it difficult to keep his
Speaker 2: body cool. Temperatures inside the car could get up to
Speaker 2: sixty six degrees celsius. The car broke down several times.
Speaker 2: Extreme weather like thunderstorms caused mud slides. These left him stranded.
Speaker 2: Often it felt like he would never finish, But on
Speaker 2: the fourteenth of January he reached his goal. He was
Speaker 2: the first man without arms and legs to complete the
Speaker 2: Dakar Rally.
Speaker 1: Quason continues to amaze with his achievements. He plans to
Speaker 1: take part in the Dakar Rally again. He wants to
Speaker 1: race in a car powered by green energy. No one
Speaker 1: else has done this, and he has decided that his
Speaker 1: next big goal will be becoming the first disabled man
Speaker 1: in space.
Speaker 2: Those who support disabled people hope Croezon's successes will have
Speaker 2: an effect all around the world. Elizabeth mcnairn leads Handicap International.
Speaker 2: This organization helps disabled people. This organization supported Croizon's swimming project.
Speaker 2: Mcnairn wrote about Philip Croizon in the Huffington Post.
Speaker 4: This gives him a chance to show the world the
Speaker 4: many things that disabled people can do, they can take risks.
Speaker 4: Philip is changing the way people think about being disabled.
Speaker 4: I hope that someone living with a disability will see
Speaker 4: news and think why not me.
Speaker 1: Philippe Quaison worked hard to show that disabled people can
Speaker 1: do amazing things. He wanted to show that everyone is equal,
Speaker 1: but he also shows something important about humans. All of
Speaker 1: us go through difficult and sometimes tragic things. We all fail,
Speaker 1: but we can also pick ourselves back up again, and
Speaker 1: with enough time and effort, we can do almost anything.
Speaker 2: Do you have a disability? Do you know anyone with
Speaker 2: a disability? What do you think you could accomplish despite
Speaker 2: your limitations? You can leave a comment on our website
Speaker 2: at www dot Spotlight English dot com or on YouTube.
Speaker 2: You can also get our programs delivered directly to your
Speaker 2: Android or Apple device through our free official Spotlight English app.
Speaker 1: The writers of this program were Alan Harris and Dan Christman.
Speaker 1: The producer was mitchio Ozarki. The voices you heard were
Speaker 1: from the United Kingdom and the United States. All quotes
Speaker 1: were adapted for this program and voiced by Spotlight. This
Speaker 1: program is called Doing Anything with Philippe Cuisson.
Speaker 2: We hope you can join us again for the next
Speaker 2: Spotlight program. Goodbye