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Disability no bar to Rotto swim

It's been less than 10 years since Salvatore Cimmino started swimming.

Not only had he spent 40 years of his life out of the water but he is also an amputee. Now Mr Cimmino, who is from Torre Annunziata, Italy, is taking on the world as part of his project, Swimming in the Seas of the Globe, with his eighth stop being the Rottnest Channel Swim.

At 15, Mr Cimmino was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a malignant bone tumour that usually develops rapidly while a teen is maturing into an adult, and had to have his right leg amputated.

Since 2010, he has taken part in open-water races around the world, including Israel, New Zealand, the US, Italy and Slovenia, all without prosthetic aid.

Mr Cimmino's goals, as part of the project, are to raise money and awareness about disabled conditions around the world and fight mistrust and rejection.