Trudy Ederle

Although she won three Olympic medals, “Trudy” Ederle will also be remembered for other outstanding swimming feats. In August 1919 in Indianapolis, at the age of 12 years 298 days, she became the youngest woman ever to set a world swimming record when she posted a new best for the 880y freestyle. She set a total of nine world records and seven of them came during the course of a 500m swim at Brighton Beach, New York, in 1922. She turned professional in 1925, with her first professional swim a crossing from Lower Manhattan to Sandy Hook, New Jersey, in seven hours. Later in the year she attempted a crossing of the English Channel but failed. However, the following year she became the first woman to swim the English Channel, starting in France and finishing in England. Her time of 14 hr, 34 min. broke the men’s record for the crossing, in spite of swimming additional miles because of the rough sea. Her trainer for the swim was 1900 Olympian Tom Burgess. When Ederle returned to the United States, she was given a ticker-tape parade in New York City. She later had a brief movie career, and also toured the vaudeville circuit, including Billy Rose’s Aquacade. Suffering from gradually increasing deafness, Ederle later gave swimming lessons at a School for the Deaf.