The Daily Telegraph

Crumpled old gloves? These are my hands after polar ordeal

- By Emily Lawford

A BRITISH Olympic rower has revealed the terrible hand injuries he suffered when an expedition on the edge of the Arctic Sea ice went wrong.

Alex Gregory, the double Olympic gold medallist, set out from Tromso, Norway on July 20 with eight other men on a rowing expedition to Iceland.

When the boat’s electrical equipment stopped working, they had to steer it manually in a “phenomenal­ly tough 72 hours”. They were stranded for two weeks on the small Norwegian island of Jan Mayen – 370 miles from Iceland – where they were looked after by the Norwegian military.

On the island, Gregory shared a photo of his incredibly wrinkled and damaged hands on Twitter.

While still at sea, he wrote on Facebook: “I’ve never been so wet and cold for so long. It’s seeping into my bones, there is absolutely no escape from it.”

The crew are now all returning home, having been given a lift by the Norwegian coastguard.

The Polar Row Facebook page’s most recent post says: “Our cold injuries are better and Alex’s infamous hands are healing and looking less like he should be in a morgue every day.”

 ??  ?? Thumbs-up: Gregory’s hands are healing
Thumbs-up: Gregory’s hands are healing

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