Gertrude Ederle was the daughter of German immigrants. When she was a child, her father taught his children how to swim at a New Jersey beach. Gertrude was a natural. She got so good that she dropped out of school to race competitively. She won her first race at age 16. In the next three years, she set 29 national and world records, including 9 in one day. At age 18, she made the US Olympics team for the 1924 Paris games. She won a gold and two bronzes. In 1925, she attempted to be the first woman to swim the English Channel. She failed due to exhaustion. This was depressing because her father had promised her a red roadster if she made it. Realizing she had to be better prepared, she spent the next year getting ready. Her second attempt was on August 6, 1926. She left from a beach at Cape Gris-Nez, France headed for Dover, England. She faced strong tides, jellyfish, frigid water, and high waves. To combat the cold, she coated her body with grease. Since her failure the year before was partly due to a loose, large swimsuit with stockings, this time she wore a single piece which she had cut into two. She was accompanied by a tug boat which had her trainer on board. He had been the second man to swim the Channel. She was fed chicken legs, oranges, and chicken vegetable soup. She swam a total of 35 miles and made it in 14 ½ hours, besting the male record by two hours. Her female record lasted until 1951. The Roaring Twenties were a decade of celebrity worship and she was now at the top of the heap. She stayed there until Lindbergh flew the Atlantic one year later. She was given a tickertape parade in NYC. Pres. Coolidge called her “America’s Best Girl”.
https://www.history.com/news/gertrude-ederle-first-woman-swim-english-channel
https://wams.nyhistory.org/confidence-and-crises/jazz-age/gertrude-ederle/
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