Ederle, Gertrude, 1906-2003

Gertrude Ederle was the first woman to swim across the English Channel. During a time when female athletes were not taken seriously, Ederle proved critics wrong. In 1924 she competed at the Olympic games, where she won a gold medal in the 400-meter freestyle relay and bronze medals in the 100 and 400-meter freestyle races. By 1925, Ederle had set twenty-nine world records in women’s freestyle swimming, and she began training to cross the twenty-one-mile-wide English Channel. On August 6, 1926, in strong, choppy waters, she successfully swam across the channel, clocking a time of fourteen hours and thirty-one minutes for thirty-five miles. Despite swimming extra miles, Ederle beat the record time by two hours.