Shark attack survivor Paul de Gelder works out for new role

Watch what shark attack survivor Paul de Gelder does at the gym and you’ll get an insight into just how tough this former navy diver really is.

FOR a bloke missing an arm and a leg, there isn’t much Paul de Gelder cannot do.

Bench press, chin-ups, chest flys - you name it.

When the Mosman Daily spoke to the former navy diver at the Private Health Club gym in Neutral Bay last week, his regimen was humbling to say the least.

Shark attack survivor and former Navy Diver, Paul de Gelder working out at PHC gym at Neutral Bay.

Asked if there was any exercise he could not do, he responded: “Pretty much anything … well, handstand push-ups are challenging ... I just need to do them against a wall or with someone holding my leg.”

The fact that he lost his right forearm and right leg to a 2.7m bull shark in Sydney Harbour five years ago has not slowed him down one bit.

Paul de Gelder’s one-legged box jump on to seven plates of weight is incredibly hard thing for anyone to do.

Although he said he did have to cart around his “go-go gadget” bag of five prosthetic limbs.

Asked whether he would prefer his life before the attack­, he said: “It is a lot more exciting now because even though navy clearance diving was an amazing job, and my dream job, there was a lot of in-between times and down times.

“Now, I hardly know where I’ll be from week to week — I could be in Africa filming a pilot or up in Cairns, diving the reef. I love it. I get so much more free time to focus on the things I want to do, like charity work and volunteer work.”

Since losing his leg and forearm in a shark attack five years ago, Paul de Gelder has rebuilt his body to be fitter and stronger than ever.

The McMahons Point resident will take the plunge into television later this year fronting a series titled Fearless for Microsoft’s Xbox Entertainment Studios.

The series will screen as on-demand content on its video game platforms and mobile devices this year. It will be showcased at a new digital programming event NewFronts in New York in May.

The show is likely to include some of de Gelder’s adventures such as cage diving with great white sharks in South Australia, where he recently was awed by the immensity of the predators.

“The super girls are huge,” he said. “When they open their mouths, they could swallow you whole.”

Paul in 2010, during his recovery after losing a hand and a leg from a suspected bull shark attack.

It didn’t take long for the former navy diver to get back into training, even in his hospital bed.

Describing the attack which changed his life, he shows little signs of being traumatised.

“I saw its head and tail thrashing around and I knew it was a bull (shark) straight away,” he said.

“It was so quick. I tried to jab it in the eyeball but it had my hand in its mouth. I was pulling my arm but it wasn’t doing anything.

“Then I looked down and its teeth were wrapped across my wrist, pinning my arm against me.”

Paul de Gelder swimming with bull sharks in Fiji after the attack. Picture: Channel 9/60 Minutes

As for life after the attack, the 37-year-old is philosophical. “Sure, it sucks a bit (his injuries) but everyone’s got problems — mine’s just a little bit different.

“I have got to get up in the morning and pop a leg on and go to bed at night and pop it off. But I see people every day who are doing it tougher than me.”

Far from calling for shark culls, he is circumspect about reports of attacks such as the 63-year-old woman taken at Tathra.

“I mean, I have been swimming in the ocean around sharks all my life,” he said.

“They are part of the ecosystem, they are part of our natural environment, people don’t get angry when a lion attacks an antelope. It is just the circle of life.”

Nothing can stop McMahons Point man Paul de Gelder – not even losing two limbs to a shark.