Gertrude Caroline Ederle
By: Bailie VanZuiden
"The queen of the waves"
Gertrude Ederle was born in New York city on October 23,1905. She grew up in New York and began to lose her hearing after a case of the measles as a child. As a teenager she began to swim and over the course of only 5 years she had 29 world records. After her swim across the English channel her hearing damage became even more severe. She went on to instruct Deaf children in swimming. Gertrude passed away on November 30th, 2003 in Wycoff,New jersey
Achievements:
- She won 7 world records in one afternoon in New York.
- She did not learn how to properly swim until she was 15 and only 2 years later at the 1924 Paris Olympics she won both a bronze and gold medal for swimming.
- At 19 years old Gertrude made her second attempt across the English channel. She became not only the first women ever to swim the channel but she also swam it faster than all the men who had swam it before her. Completing the 31 mile trek in 14 hours and 31 minutes.
- She later instructed deaf children on how to swim.
"I knew it had to be done and I did it"-Gertrude Ederle
Gertrude Ederle swims the English Channel 1926