Gertrude Caroline Ederle (1905 – 2003) was an American swimmer, the first woman to swim across the Channel.
Entry into the competition at 14
Gertrude Ederle was born in New York on October 23, 1905; she is the third of six children. At the age of five, she contracted rubella and the disease deprived her of part of her hearing abilities. Her family spends her summers in New Jersey, where she learns to swim.
Gertrude, nicknamed Trudy, began training at the Women's Swimming Association (WSA) and entered competition at age 14. She quickly set amateur records, won competitions and broke world records in the 100, 200 and 400 meters.
In 1924, at the Olympic Games in Paris, she won a medal in the 400 meter freestyle relay and bronze medals in the 100 and 400 meter freestyle. Favorite in the three events, she nevertheless came back very disappointed and considered these bronze medals as the biggest disappointment of her career.
Swim across the English Channel
In 1925, the Women's Swimming Association sponsored Gertrude Ederle to swim across the English Channel. In preparation, she swims 21 miles (33.8 km) from Battery Park, the southern tip of Manhattan, to Sandy Hook in New Jersey. She covered the distance in seven hours eleven minutes and thirty seconds, breaking the men's record and holding that record for 81 years. Gertrude tries for the first time to swim the 31 miles separating France from England on August 18, 1925 but during the crossing, her trainer, considering that she is in difficulty, orders that she be taken out of the water; Gertrude, who disapproves of the decision, is disqualified.
On August 6, 1926, Gertrude repeated the experience and crossed the English Channel in 14 hours and 39 minutes. Only five men then achieved the feat, and the best time achieved was then 16 hours and 33 minutes.
His record in the United States is triumphant. Two million people parade through the streets of New York to welcome and congratulate her. Gertrude then plays her own role in a film (Swim, girl, swim), but her notoriety is short-lived. In 1933, a fall down the stairs affected his spine and forced him to stay in bed for several years. In 1940, her hearing defects worsened to the point that she was almost deaf. Subsequently, she teaches swimming to deaf children.
Gertrude Ederle died on November 30, 2003, at the age of 98. She has been a member of the International Swimming Hall of Fame since 1965.