Gertrude Ederle, who was then only 19 years old and a swimming sensation in America, accomplished a task that had been thought impossible for women according to the experts of the era by swimming across the highly challenging waters of the English Channel. Nicknamed ‘Queen of the Waves’, Ederle went down in history books as the first woman to have ever swum the highly challenging 21-mile stretch of water between France and England, thus breaking the world record held by men by over two hours.

Who Was Gertrude Ederle?

The famous swimmer and Olympic champion, Gertrude Ederle, an American by origin, succeeded in changing the world of sport forever in 1926, becoming the first woman in the history of the world to swim across the dangerous English Channel. The girl was called ‘the Queen of the Waves’ and accomplished what was considered to be impossible for a woman to do, even by the most prominent physicians and sportsmen of that period. Not only did Gertrude prove her outstanding endurance but also set a new record, breaking the previous one by two hours.

ALSO READ- Who Is Himesh Patel? Meet Indian-Origin Star Of The Odyssey Making Headlines As Eurylochus

Gertrude Ederle Early Life, Family And Swimming Journey

Ederle was born in New York City in 1905 into a family of German immigrants, whose offspring were able to learn to swim from a very young age after having an incident with almost drowning while being little children, and her father taught her some basics about it by putting her on a rope tied around her waist in one of the rivers in their vicinity. After that particular time, her interest in the sport increased tremendously, and she showed remarkable natural abilities in swimming, leaving school in favour of competitive swimming inthe  Women’s Swimming Association. All of her hard work did not go unrewarded, as she was able to break several national and world records in freestyle swimming, and win three Olympic medals, one of which was a gold in the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris.

Gertrude Ederle's Olympic Journey

The path that Gertrude Ederle followed to become internationally famous was greatly affected by the brilliant results which she had received at the Summer Olympics of 1924, which took place in Paris. Coming into the game as a promising teenage swimmer, Gertrude became one of the members of the USA women's swimming team that took part in the Olympics. Proud of her results, she managed to receive the gold medal in the 4x100 meters freestyle relay and establish an amazing Olympic record as a member of her team. In addition to that, she got two bronze medals for herself in the 100 meters and 400 meters freestyle events.

ALSO READ- Who Was Vithabai Narayangaonkar? Legendary Tamasha Artiste Behind Shraddha Kapoor’s Eetha

How She Became The First Woman To Successfully Swim The English Channel

On August 6, 1926, just 19 years old at the time, Ederle applied heavy protection of lanolin, petroleum jelly, and lard to defend against the cold waters and commenced her swim in the waters coming from Cape Gris-Nez of France. Fighting the currents, the rough swells, jellyfish stings, and stormy weather for the challenging 21-mile journey through the open ocean waters, she finally reached the shore of Kingsdown, England, after exactly 14 hours and 31 minutes. This amazing achievement of hers surpassed that of the previous record set by men by more than two hours.

Image credits: Instagram

If you liked this story, please share it. To read more such stories, stay connected to HerZindagi.