What Mihir Sen achieved in his time in international swimming is significant, although the records he created have been subsequently bettered. In 1966, he established five important records and became an extraordinary salt-water swimmer. He was the first Asian to have crossed the English Channel. In 1959, he was awarded the Padma Shri and in 1967 the Padma Bhushan.
In 1958, Mihir Sen swam across the English Channel. In 1966, he crossed the Palk Strait, followed by the Strait of Gibraltar, the Bosporus Canal and the Panama Canal. Thus, he established records in long-distance swimming.
Mihir Sen was born on 16 November 1930 in Purulia (West Bengal). He was a lawyer by profession, a barrister of the Calcutta High Court. He was a peerless swimmer, having swum more than 600 kilometres in sea/ocean water. He brought glory to his motherland by creating records and earning a place in The Guinness Book of World Record. He died in 1997 after a brief illness.