Nicolaos Solis

Nicolaos Solis, 28, from Greece holds the wooden cross which was thrown into the waters by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I during a ceremony to bless the water at the Golden Horn in Istanbul, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016. The traditional ceremony marks the Epithany in Istanbul when Bartholomew I or an Orthodox priest throws a simple wooden cross into the water and swimmers race to be the first to retrieve it. Solis was the first to retrieve the cross.(AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)

Nicolaos Solis, 28, from Greece holds the wooden cross which was thrown into the waters by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I during a ceremony to bless the water at the Golden Horn in Istanbul, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016. The traditional ceremony marks the Epithany in Istanbul when Bartholomew I or an Orthodox priest throws a simple wooden cross into the water and swimmers race to be the first to retrieve it. Solis was the first to retrieve the cross.(AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)