Hall survives shark attack

2006-07-19 07:06

Los Angeles - Five-time Olympic swimming gold medal winner Gary Hall survived a shark attack while spear fishing with his sister off the Florida coast.

The 35-year-old American fought off the shark by punching and kicking it in the nose until his injured sister was able to shoot it in the mouth with a spear gun, Hall said during the Janet Evans Invitational meet.

"Fortunately she injured the shark badly enough that a lot of blood was pouring from its mouth," Hall told the Los Angeles Times newspaper.

"The shark swam off. Otherwise with her bleeding as much as she was it could have been disastrous."

The US swim hero emerged unscathed from the attack, but his 28-year-old sister, Bebe, suffered a bite wound on the arm that required 19 stitches.

The incident took place in the Florida Keys, a string of small islands 24km southwest of Miami.

The drama began when the Halls were spear fishing about 200m from their boat and spotted a shark. They started swimming back to their boat when a 1.8m black tip reef shark attacked.

"Another shark larger than the first one we saw came in from the side and bit (Bebe) on the arm," Hall said. "I didn't realize she had been bitten before the shark was on me.

"It was swimming after me and thrashing and had its back arched in a frenzy mode. I kept punching it in the nose and kicking it and it kept coming after me.

"I was eventually able to get underneath it and roll it off of me. That's when it charged toward my sister.

"She had already been bitten, but in the meantime she had enough sense to load the spear.

"The shark charged her with its mouth open and she shot it."

The shark swam away and they managed to get back to the boat where Hall fashioned a tourniquet for Bebe's arm.

"It was definitely a shot of adrenaline," Hall said. "I don't know what my split was for the 50m, but I am sure I haven't swum that fast in years."

Hall is currently in training for the US nationals next month in Los Angeles. He finished in sixth place in the 50m freestyle at the Janet Evans meet on the weekend at the University of Southern California.

Hall won two gold medals each in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and the 2000 Sydney Olympics. He collected his fifth gold by capturing the 50m freestyle at the 2004 Atlanta Summer Games.

He will be shooting for his fourth Olympics by trying to make the US team for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

- AFP