“I just knew that if it could be done, it had to be done. And I did it.”⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Gertrude Ederle (1903-2003)⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Swimmer, USA⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Gertrude Ederle was born in New York City on October 23, 1905. She was a champion swimmer by her late teen years, and she competed for the first time in the 1924 Olympics. In 1926, she became the first woman to swim the English Channel, the 21 miles of water between England and the European mainland! Her record-breaking achievement brought her fame and acclaim. Five male swimmers had already crossed the channel, but she wanted to be the first woman to achieve this goal. She held the record for 24 years after her 1926 feat and was regarded as the ‘Queen of the waves’. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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