in rio de janeiro what begun as one swimmer's determination to achieve his goal of swimming along the entire stretch of beaches, immortalized in the famous tim maia's song 'do leme ao pontal',  has now taken the shape of a famous competition - this highly anticipated event is well known around the country and is called the king and queen of the sea, rei e rainha do mar.

With three editions, in march, june and december, rei & ainha do mar gathers more than 10000 professional, and amateur, athletes to complete in what is one of the biggest sportive events in the continent - it attracts  people from all over the world to compete and cheer.

the event has its roots  in 2008, in the leme-pontal challenge, which was a race from leme beach to pontal beach, a 35 km stretch - The rei e rainha do mar started getting national attention, and by 2009 two levels were introduced - Travessia (crossing) and Desafio (challenge), the first being for amateur athletes and the second one, for professionals.