British man attempts swim from France to America after being struck with Olympic fever

Someone call 911, because this guy has Olympic fever.

An unnamed 34-year-old British man was struck hard by all the Olympic fever happening in his home country, so much so that he thought he would get in on the action by attempting to swim from Biarritz, France, to New York City. 

NBC reported that the man's friends thought their patriotic friend was joking when he told them he would swim all the way to New York City to “carry the Olympic spirit across the Atlantic,” after watching an Olympic swimming event. 

The man swam out past the 300-meter buoys, which marked the end of the legal swimming area and just kept on swimming, China Daily reported. It was then that lifeguards sent out a rescue helicopter to save him. 

Surprisingly the man put up a fight when a rescue diver dropped into the sea and explained that it wasn't a well thought out plan to attempt the 3,594 mile swim. The man reportedly told the rescue team he was a strong swimmer and felt up to it. 

Paramilitary officer Laurent Saintespes, told the AFP news agency, “You have to have a sense of humor when the Olympics are on in London,” adding that it was "kind of a crazy story."

One man who did almost make it the length of the Atlantic was 52-year-old Slovenian Martin Strel, otherwise known as "The Fish Man". Strel swam a total of 3,272 miles down the Amazon River before stopping due to sunburn and exhaustion, according to World Record Academy.