A Mighty Girl - 100 years ago: Gertrude Ederle!

Gepubliceerd door richard broer op di, 11/08/2026 - 00:10
19-year-old Gertrude Ederle became the first woman in history to successfully swim the English Channel on this day in 1926. She began in Cape Gris-Nez, France and came ashore at Kingsdown, Kent, England 14 hours and 39 minutes later. Due to the roughness of the sea, Ederle swam 35 miles rather than the 21 miles straight across; yet, she still set a new world record for fastest channel swim by surpassing the previous record set by swimmer Enrique Tiraboschi.
 
 
 
Growing up in New York City, Ederle began her training as a competitive swimmer at the time when women's swimming was becoming increasingly popular, in part due to the streamlining of the women's swimsuit which made swimming easier. As seen in this picture, she was coated in lanolin and grease during her record-setting swim to help her stay warm and protect against jellyfish. Upon returning to New York, she was greeted with a ticker-tape parade and an estimated two million people turned out to celebrate her grand accomplishment.
Gertrude also had a star showing at the 1924 Summer Olympics where she won a gold medal as a part of the U.S. 400-meter freestyle relay team and bronze medals for finishing third in the 100-meter and 400-meter freestyle races. Ederle passed away in 2003 at the age of 98.
For an inspiring picture book about Ederle and her historic swim, we highly recommend "Trudy's Big Swim," for ages 5 to 9 at https://www.amightygirl.com/trudy-s-big-swim
For another uplifting picture book about this courageous trailblazer, check out "America's Champion Swimmer: Gertrude Ederle," for ages 5 to 8 at https://www.amightygirl.com/america-s-champion
Gertrude Ederle is also featured in the inspiring new picture book "She Persisted in Sports: American Olympians Who Changed the Game" for ages 5 to 9 at https://www.amightygirl.com/she-persisted-in-sports
For more books for young readers that celebrate girls and women who love sports -- including numerous Olympians -- check out our "Sports & Games" section at http://amgrl.co/2zIJnDi
And, for hundreds of books about real-life female trailblazers in a wide variety of fields, visit A Mighty Girl’s “Role Models" biography section at https://www.amightygirl.com/.../history-biography/biography
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