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Fidel Castro: The unlikely relationship he had with an Aussie sportswoman

Maroney with Fidel Castro after her Jamaica-Cuba swim in 1999.

Maroney with Fidel Castro after her Jamaica-Cuba swim in 1999. Photo: ABC/Reuters

Retired Australian swimmer Susie Maroney has opened up on her friendship with Fidel Castro following the former Cuban presidents death on Saturday (local time).

Maroney, who rose to prominence for her extraordinary marathon swims, paid tribute this week to Castro, who died at the age of 90.

The pair struck up an unlikely friendship after Maroney became the first person to swim 180km from Cuba to the United States in 1997.

She then swam from Mexico to Cuba in 1998, and from Jamaica to Cuba in 1999, celebrating both efforts with dinner with Castro, who ruled Cuba for 49 years.

“It was an honour being invited to the palace and having dinner with him after both of the Cuba swims,” Maroney told the Herald Sun.

“So it is a sad day for me and my family.”

Maroney recalled Castro as being very interested about Australian life.

“When we had dinner with Fidel, it was for about five hours,” she said.

“I remember he was so interested in Australia and how much we paid for electricity and he had a great sense of humour, joking about kangaroos.

“For us, he was a man that loved sport and loved Australia.”

She added that Castro gave her trophies and a signed box of cigars after her swims.

“He did not want to tell anyone that he had stopped smoking the cigars,” she said.

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Fidel Castro waves to the people in Havana on January 8, 1959. Photo: Getty

“He was actually quite healthy. We were waiting for him to have his second grapefruit and he was on a health kick.

“It was amazing he was that interested in a little Australian like me.”

Inside the friendship

Maroney’s passion for swimming was evident from an early age, and in 1991 she became the fastest person to cross the English Channel.

But it was her swim from Cuba to the United States that caught Castro’s attention and, as the Aussie revealed, it was the ex-president who inspired her next swim.

“I just loved the people [in Cuba] and loved that long stretch of water,” she told the Sydney Morning Herald in 2003.

“When I was meeting Fidel Castro he said, ‘Oh, you should try Mexico to Cuba’, so I think it’s all his fault.”

But she struggled with the shark cage she swum in from Mexico to Cuba, which saw Castro get even more involved in her next swim – from Jamaica to Cuba in 1999.

“He thought it [cage] should be more streamlined or something like that. I wouldn’t argue. I agreed with everything.”

So Maroney completed the record-breaking effort in a cage donated by Castro and painted pink for the Aussie.

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Maroney begins her swim from Cuba to the United States. Photo: Getty

As ABC journalist Lisa Millar wrote this week, in a 2002 interview with Castro, he was still talking about Maroney.

“We got half a dozen questions and he answered each, offering observations for an Australian-only audience and remarking more than once on his admiration for swimmer Susie Maroney, who had become the first person to swim the 180 kilometres of water from Cuba to the US five years previously,” she wrote.

The pair stayed in touch, with Maroney revealing to the Herald Sun she received an email from Castro every year at Christmas time that wished her all the best for the upcoming year.

And in an episode of Network Ten program The Living Room, Maroney revealed she has a photo of her and Castro on her wall at home.

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