Artivist Series - Merle Liivand
aquapreneur/swimmer/mermaid
Merle Liivand is an aquapreneur, plastic pollution reduction advocate, Guinness World Record holder and mermaid. The Estonian-born swimmer holds several Guinness World Records her latest was achieved on April 15, 2023, in a little over 14 hours. Merle swam 50 kilometers using a monofin, a record setting swim for the longest distance swum using a monofin. It's a feat because she swam the distance without using her arms by undulating her lower body up and down mermaid-style.
Video conversation with Merle … click here
What Merle talks about …
Merle grew up along the Baltic Sea in Estonia. A little country full of culture. Merle characterizes the people as thinking outside the box. She claims Skype originated in her country and they’ve lived on block chain for the past 20 years. She further states that theirs is the first country to sign government documents using an Apple watch. She says Estonia is a country that likes to test exciting things.
She didn’t learn to swim until she was 11 years old. She was always active skiing and dancing although she had respiratory problems which she believes was due to the fact she was born prematurely. Her family doctor recommended that she learn to swim so she might learn to better ventilate her lungs. That’s why she took up swimming and how she came to fall in love with water.
The discipline to go from non-swimmer to a top ranked swimmer in one year, Merle credits her parents. She knows there were days when her parents wondered whether their daughter should be in a hospital rather than in a swimming pool. For Merle, it doesn’t matter how you feel it is about trying. She was really excited to go to practice everyday as she focused on winning a medal.
It’s clear that Merle doesn’t settle for a single accomplishment. In addition to swimming for Estonia, she is a two time medalist in world ice swimming. Merle discusses how she got into ice swimming. Merle laughs because she lives in Miami, not the ideal place to prepare for swimming in icy water. Merle says she got invited to a competition because she is a kind of celebrity in Estonia. Because her schedule was keeping her in Miami that’s where she had to train for the event. She was six months training “under the sun” before jumping on a plane to Estonia, the country hosting the event that year. She competed in the 200 breast stroke event.
She found interesting ways to train for the event. She used unheated pools in Florida and did a lot of weight training Navy seal style to help keep her focused in the cold. If she is honest the challenge was difficult. 200 meter breaststroke takes 3 minutes. It’s not easy.
Then she took up another less well known sport, swimming with a monofin. She was introduced to the monofin by an Estonian coach. The longest she’d done was 8 X 25 meters (8 laps of a pool). It allows a swimmer to practice the underwater dolphin kick like Michael Phelps does it. Because she wanted to take swimming beyond the pool Merle designed a mermaid school so girls would feel comfortable in a swim suit. As a result, she ended up in a segment of Good Morning America. For a while it became her business. A way to advocate for people to step into sports.
Meanwhile “her dear friend Usain Bolt” heard that she’d been swimming 10k with the monofin. Merle told Bolt that she’d only swum a few laps with the fin. He apparently suggested she turn it into her newest sport. Merle says that Usain has agreed to swim with her to raise awareness for climate and for his foundation in Jamaica. Merle admits she is a little bit scared of him.
Swimming with a monofin is different than what she’s done in the past because when she’s swum 10k she has the ability to use her arms and her legs. With monofin it is a constant use of her core muscles and her arms up. There is little relief.
Merle said, “If Usain Bolt challenges you, you go in the next day to practice.” When she competed in Korea, people kept asking if she was going to show up with the mermaid tail. When she was invited to the Los Angeles Olympic trial test event, she had a moment thinking that sports event aren’t addressing the problem of plastic in the ocean. We need to address the problem as it is affecting our athletes. She called up Guiness and others to find out how she could qualify for consideration in their records. She was getting frustrated but doesn’t take “No” easily. She convinced them to come, watch, and then decide. She swam 10k without using any arm movement because animals like dolphins are getting caught in plastic so why should she be able to swim freely. She accomplished something that no one else in the world had done.
Merle didn’t stop at one Guiness Record, she has continually broken her previous record. Her most current record was 50k which took more than 14 hours. She has been breaking her record every 11 months. Each time it’s been 10k more. She enjoyed the last swim as she enjoyed the community she had around her including two dolphins who swam with her. During the swim, she also picked up trash. With her arms held out in front of her, the trash seems to attack her. Merle feels its sad that the water has gotten filled with trash. She pulled out 35 pounds of trash during her physically demanding swim.
Merle believes that the younger generations are doing a good job of raising awareness but also believes we are all spending too much time pointing fingers at others instead of doing 1 percent better themselves. She is counting weeks to 2030 when we are supposed to have more trash in the ocean than fishes. We are only about 319 weeks away from 2030. To make a difference, anytime you are offered single use plastic ask for better. In the restaurants. In the stores. Be an ocean hero. Every single person can be an ocean hero. Everyone can do 1 percent better.
Show Notes
00:00:00 Pamela Ferris-Olson Today on the Wo(men) Mind the Water Artivist Series on womanmindthewater.com I'm speaking with Merle Liivand. Merle can be identified by many titles, among them are aquapreneur, plastic pollution reduction advocate, and Guinness World Record holder. On April 15th this year, in a little over 14 hours, Merle swam 50 kilometers, a record setting swim for the longest distance with a monofin. She swam using only her lower body, undulating it up and down, mermaid style.
The Wo(men) mind the Water Artivist Series podcast on womanmindthewater.com engages artists in conversation about their work and explores their connection with the ocean . Through their stories Wo(men) Mind the Water hopes to inspire and encourage action to protect the ocean and her creatures.
00:00:57 I am speaking with Merle Liivand. Merle, who was born in Estonia, is a three time Baltic swim champion, two time silver medalist in world ice swimming, and has a series of Guinness World Records for long distance swims using a monofin. She's an entrepreneur and a philanthropist in many things related to swimming and the ocean.
00:01:23 Welcome, Merle. Thank you for joining me on the Wo(men) Mind the Water Artivist Series podcast. Your credentials are impressive, they're inspiring, and I'm really excited to meet my first mermaid.
I typically begin an interview by asking the guests to tell us a little bit about where they grew up. So please tell us something about the country and the place where you grew up.
00:01:45 Merle Liivand I grew up along the Baltic Sea in Estonia. I always dreamed about the blue ocean. It's a tiny little country. It's full of rich culture. I mean, we were the first country in the world who basically stopped World War II by singing and dancing. We didn't have any war to finish occupation from Soviet Union. We always have been the type of people who thinks outside the box. If you are familiar with Skype, Skype is from my country. We have been living in a blockchain world since I was in middle school. We’ve been on block chain system for the last 20 years. All our banks and everything is on tech. So we are also the first country in the world who can sign government documents by Apple Watch and I have actually opened a company while being in the ocean and doing that through blockchain. Estonia is a country what loves to test the exciting things by thinking about how we can enjoy more nature and at the same time getting things done.
00:03:06 Pamela Ferris-Olson Very exciting. I didn't know any of that about Estonia. So it seems you were an active child, but you didn't take to the water until you were 11 years old. What made you decide it was time to learn how to swim?
00:03:20 Merle Liivand So when I was growing up, I loved looking Olympics and I loved
creating even a cross country skiing track behind my house. Then I did dancing and I was always active but my lungs constantly struggled. I was born prematurely actually so I had a lot of health issues. I spent quite a lot of time in a hospital bed watching the ceiling. It got to the point where my family doctor recommended me to learn to swim so I can learn to ventilate my lungs because my lungs were about to collapse and that's how I kind of took the swimming lessons and really fell in love with water really fast.
00:04:13 Pamela Ferris-Olson It's amazing that you went from somebody who was lying in a hospital bed to all that you've achieved and your bio says that it took you only a year before you ranked among the top Estonian swimmers. I mean, that's a good deal of work. What was it about swimming that unlocked that kind of dedication?
00:04:33 Merle Liivand I think that discipline came from my parents, definitely. And I know there were days when my father asked my mom, “Is it a good idea to take the girl to practice or should we go to hospital with her again?” It was a little how do you say “rumble” to figure it out. How to keep me keep me in a sports excited, but at the same time I still struggled with medical issues and conditions. If I am honest, I am still fixing some of the problems today. But I think the fact is that I at least try. Why? You know it, sometimes doesn't matter how you feel. It matters how you target the situation. And I think that what really motivated me was to get on board. I wanted really badly to win the Estonian National Medal and I was just really excited to go to practice every day.
00:05:40 Pamela Ferris-Olson Well, it is amazing what you've accomplished, but it's clear that you don't stop at one accomplishment. For example, you're a two time silver medalist in World Ice Swimming. I don't know anything about ice swimming except that I looked at one picture of what looks like an Olympic swimming pool cut out of ice on a river or something. Tell us how you got into ice and how does one train for it?
00:06:10 Merle Liivand Especially as I am living in Miami. I got on a plane and landed in time to jump into the icy water. But it’s the kind of person I am. I figure I got invited as I am a kind of a celebrity to take part of ice swimming World Championships and represent Estonia. Somehow it happened to be that my schedule was keeping me in Miami, so I wasn't even, you know, slipping into New York to feel a little cold or going somewhere to really try ice plunge. So I was six months training under the sun.
00:07:02 I jumped on a plane, landed in in Estonia because Estonia was hosting that time. Meanwhile, I decided to also that my company should be part of sponsoring and selling so in one moment I'm jumping off the plane and I'm setting up my shop on a kind of Eskimo igloo store and then jumping in and swimming 100 meter breaststroke. My grandmother asked if I'm OK. But I kind of felt that I wanna figure out. I mean, as a asthmatic and as a person who had collapsed lungs, I would like to figure out how to target that situation. So I really learned to train interesting ways in Florida. I used pools where the heater wasn't on to get used to the colder water in Florida. I used a lot of weight training like Navy SEAL style to keep myself up on the water even when it might be feeling freezing. And you just wanna, you know, fall down. So it was an interesting challenge.
00:08:23 And if I'm honest, it was mentally way worse, challenging. I really have to ask my grandmother to love me and not to hate me.
00:08:37 Pamela Ferris-Olson All I can think of it is so cold you just want to get out, so you'll hightail it to the other end.
00:08:44 Merle Liivand Ah, so yeah, but 2200 breaststroke takes 3 minutes and that's not easy. It's hard for your lungs.
00:08:54 Pamela Ferris-Olson So then you took up another less well known form of swimming, which is with the monofin. So what exactly is the monofin and how were you introduced to this type of swimming?
00:09:08 Merle Liivand I was introduced by Estonian coach when I was back home, but the longest one I ever did with the monofin was 8 time 25 meters as a way to practice the underwater dolphin kick like Michael Phelps does it. But then when I was in US, I had a moment when I felt like swimming is so much more than just swimming laps and freestyle and breaststroke. It was that I really wanted girls to come to sports, to swimming sports and be OK to putting swimsuit on and that's how I created the mermaid school. We also ended up in a New York Good Morning America segment and it became popular. And then for a while I realized that it can be my business and that it can be my next thing to be kind of advocate for swimming and also advocate. For people to step into sports. Meanwhile when I was swimming, Usain Bolt., my dear friend, heard somewhere that I swam 10K professionally, but he always thought I swam it like a mermaid. I was like, “no, no, no” I haven't swam more than 400 meters with this monofin in practice. And then he kind of joked that maybe you should try to turn that into your new sport. And here we are.
00:10:40 Pamela Ferris-Olson Are you saying that monofins are used for competitive swimmers to help them do their kicks for butterfly?
00:10:48 Merle Liivand Yes, especially underwater. When you look to freestyle swimmers, back strokers, butterfly, the monofin practices help them the most to gain the speed, feel the kick. And sometimes if you look, Michael Phelps, he passes everybody thanks to those underwater kicks.
00:11:08 Pamela Ferris-Olson Ah OK, I thought it was just because he had really long arms.
00:11:13 Merle Liivand That too. But mostly the kicks under the water is when you can win and get ahead of other competitors.
00:11:22 Pamela Ferris-Olson Well, that's pretty impressive that you say Usain Bold gave you a challenge. What are you gonna challenge him to do?
00:11:32 Merle Liivand Well, he has agreed already actually to swim with me, to raise awareness for climate and for his foundation in Jamaica. So now we are just trying to get our schedules together to do that. But I am a little bit scared of him. So tonight I'm going to run during practice. I run to make sure that he's not gonna challenge me more.
00:11:57 Pamela Ferris-Olson So how different is monofin swimming to what you've done in the past? How much training is involved in preparing for the distances that you've swum?
00:12:09 Merle Liivand It is totally different because when I swim 10K I can play around a little bit when my arms get tired, maybe I kick more or when my legs get tired I use more arms and don't use legs at all, or on breaststroke I can take a deeper glide and relax my muscles a little bit. But with the monofin it's a constant use of the core and you constantly keep the arms up.
But if something happens with your hips, they start being in pain or your core or lower back, forget it then. Then you just are in one spot, you are not moving anywhere.
00:12:50 Pamela Ferris-Olson You're a dead fish.
00:12:53 Merle Liivand Exactly that, a dead fish. I will use that.
00:12:56 Pamela Ferris-Olson So where did you get the idea to go for a Guinness record, and what do you have to do to have a swim counted as a Guinness record?
00:13:06 Merle Liivand Well, the day after he [Usain Bolt] made that joke that I should swim 10K with the Mermaid fin...if he simply challenges you, you go in next day to practice that's for sure. And I went to World Championships in 10K in Korea. Everybody was has seen me in the media, because I've been in the media, they asked me if I'm showing up to World Championships with the mermaid tail? I was like, this joke is going too far. You know, it keep going and I think let me try and get that done. And then when I got invited to the Los Angeles Olympic trial test event. I had a moment where I was kind of frustrated that nothing isn't getting done in the sports world addressing that oceans are dying from plastic. Here we are enjoying sports and making memories. But we need to raise awareness for the pollution issues, what affects our athletes sometimes on trainings and competitions. And I called up Guinness and I think I called up every single person who I knew in this world and asked who knows something about Guinness World Record? Then how do I get the Guinness World Records and how can I set it up that nobody else has ever done in the world. It was a difficult process. I was getting a lots of nos.
00:14:50 But the person who I am, I don't take ‘no’ easily. I set up a deal that you come film right in the boat next to me. Look how I'm doing it and later decide. I sent in all the paperwork. And then one day before I sent out the paperwork I changed the fact that I'm going to swim 10K without using any arms for full stroke because animals are getting stuck in fishing nets and plastic. So how come a dolphin has to swim 10K being stuckion a plastic and I might go and set the world record. I said, “That's not fair.” So that's how the first record was done. Everybody was amazed, including myself a little bit. But it was pretty amazing to make history and feel that vibe that I did something that nobody else in the world have ever done.
00:15:54 Pamela Ferris-Olson And I love the reason that you did it [Guiness Record swim] and the imagery of how porpoises and whales get caught in nets and get stuck. And, something tells me that Usain Bolt is probably a little bit afraid of you too.
00:16:16 Merle Liivand He might be but you never know.
00:16:30 Pamela Ferris-Olson Yeah, I think so. You didn't stop with one record. You continue to break your own previous records. Your most recent swim, which was 50 kilometers, took more than 14 hours. What is the challenge of being in the water for such a long time?
00:16:37 Merle Liivand Yes. So it happeneds that every eleven months I keep breaking a record and I'm not jumping a little bit. I always jump like 10 kilometers more and sometimes my people are like it's not just you have to train a little bit more. It's a lot. I'm aware and every time I'm asking myself what I am doing. I must say I've enjoyed this time the most. There were lots of amazing community around me. I mean, every time I swim I can see on the side how in some cities where I swim by people stop. Mothers with babies are running, you know, yelling “Mermaid, mermaid.” And this time I also had an electrical boat with me. So we were a super carbon zero Guinness World Record as possible.
00:17:42 And challenges I faced in these 14 hours was more that this week, when I set the record, we had a thousand year flood. The Fort Lauderdale Airport was closed. People had to swim out from the airport. The bacteria levels were so high that I got notes kind of like you are not allowed to go and do it because it's a question of bacteria. I looked at it, all the statistics and everything, and my gut was telling me that it’s now or never. And it felt like nature is behind me. There's gonna be so much enjoyment and connection with animals. There was one crocodile, there were a couple of sharks, and two dolphins who swam by me, turned around, according to the people who were observing me and who were on a boat. These two dolphins somehow decided to turn around and come with me. And I saw that and I just couldn't believe it. And it was a moment where I felt like I'm one of them. I told my people, I know you guys might be tired, but I feel we're gonna make it to the end. And swimming on in darkness the last hour and a half when I finished. That was how, how do I say? My lawyer who was there said “That was a gangster move.” So I really enjoy the most the 50 kilometers [swim].
00:19:37 I have had crazy highs with different records like swimming against 27 knot wind and being stung by jellyfish, but this time was one of the best.
00:19:50 Pamela Ferris-Olson So during this swim, you not only challenged yourself to make the 50 kilometers but you also picked up trash. I have to say I've interviewed a number of ocean plastic trash activists but none have been as personally immersed in the problem as you have. What's it like to be in the water and come into direct contact with trash?
00:20:17 Merle Liivand What is the saddest is because I'm not using my arms for full stroke and I have hands in front sometimes the trash attacks me. That's how much trash there is. With the current, it hits me in the head or it's next to you. When I saw it next to my boat it was so easy to say, “Trash on your left or trash on your right. And sometimes I warn my people that if I go under water it means I saw trash and I'm just picking up trash. It's not like a drowned. And I am constantly passing the trash to the kayak. I'm diving down picking up another can. So basically diving one can at a time. And that's the saddest story that how come we have got to this point.
00:21:17 I pulled 35 lbs of trash out that day when I'm going high speed My heart rate was 100 and 78 -100 eighty and I'm still aware of seeing trash left and right. At some point I had to put things on my suit because the kayaker was still picking up last trash I had pointed out. We didn't expect to pick up 35 lbs.
00:21:49 Pamela Ferris-Olson Well, it's deeply disturbing and I wonder how you feel. Do you feel hopeful that enough people are aware of and interested in the plastic pollution problem, that things will be done to address the problem?
00:22:03 Merle Liivand I believe that younger generations have done incredible job of raising awareness. But I also believe that everybody's pointing too much their fingers at others. Instead of doing that 1% better of themselves. I have started counting weeks until we get to 2030 when there is supposed to be more trash in the ocean than fishes. We are what only 319 weeks away from 2030? That's not much.
We need to change habits. It means that every time you reach out for single use plastic choose better. Ask the restaurant to do better. Ask your stores to do better. Do 1% better. Be an ocean hero. It is easy to say, “Ohh I went to buy all this. They gave me plastic straw. I went home.” When you go in next day again and you do it again and again. I'm saying every single person can be ocean hero and do 1% better and ask better.
00:23:22 Pamela Ferris-Olson Well, it's been terrific to have you on the podcast and share your story. I look forward to hearing about the other challenges that you're going to take on in the future and I hope that you are very successful in making people more conscientious about the way they live.
00:23:42 Merle Liivand We all are connected by the water, so we all have something to learn from each other.
00:23:48 Pamela Ferris-Olson Yes, we do. And I've learned a lot from you . I am grateful to you for your lessons about what it's like to be in the ocean and your efforts that are a little out of the ordinary that should catch people by surprise and look twice.
I'd like to remind listeners that I've been speaking with Merle Liivand, a record setting swimmer who, among other things, is trying to turn the tide against ocean plastic. Merle Liivand is the latest guest on the Wo(man) Mind the Water Artivist Series podcast. The series can be viewed on womenmindthewater.com, Museum on Main Street, and YouTube. An audio only version of this podcast is available on womenmindthewater.com, on iTunes, and Spotify. Wo(men) Mind the water is grateful to Jaine Rice for the use of her song Women of Water. All rights for the Wo(men) Mind the Water name and logo belong to Pam Ferris Olson. This is Pam Ferris-Olson.