Gertrude Ederle

Gertrude Caroline Ederle ( born October 23, 1906 in New York; † 30 November 2003 in Wyckoff, New Jersey) was an American swimmer and the first woman who swam across the English Channel.

Gertrude Ederle was the daughter of a German immigrant to New York and learned supposedly in the spring of 1914 during a visit to relatives in Bissinger lake swimming.

The age of twelve she put on the first world record in the 800 m freestyle. She broke in the following years further eleven world records and won at the Olympic Games in Paris in 1924, a gold and two bronze medals.

On 6 August 1926 she swam the English Channel was the first woman between Cap Gris -Nez and Dover. She needed to 14 hours and 32 minutes and was over two hours more on target than the previous world champion. She was then appointed as an honorary citizen of New York.

Ederle was hard of hearing since childhood due to measles infection. After her eardrums were attacked while crossing the English Channel from the salt water, they began to become deaf, her passion remained loyal and worked as a swimming instructor for deaf children.

In 1933, she was paralyzed by a spinal injury. With painstaking training, however, she managed until 1939, to learn to walk again, even swimming she succeeded later. Under President Eisenhower, she was accepted to the Advisory Board for Youth exercise.

In 1965, she was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the international swimming sport.