Gertrude Caroline Ederle

"When somebody tells me I cannot do something, that's when I do it," GERTRUDE EDERLE

I chose Gertrude Ederle because her courage and strength made me want to find out more about her and her achievements. I also chose her because I know how much preparation and time it takes to shave just one second off of your time, and Ederle was able to take hours off of her times.

Facts in Brief
Name: Gertrude Caroline Ederle
Birth: October 23, 1906 New York City, New York
Parents: Henry J. Ederle was a German Butcher ;Gertrude Haverstroh Ederle was a German housewife that raised six children
Education: Normal education until High School when she dropped out after one year.

On Gertrude's first attempt to swim the English Channel on August 18, 1925 she was pulled out of the water after eight hours and forty-six minutes of swimming because her trainer thought she had collapsed because of the high waves and pulled her out of the water immediately with only seven more miles to go.

Trudy's second attempt to across the English Channel started at 7:08 A.M. August 6, 1926. The odds against her three to one that she would fail. The sea was calm when she began but the afternoon brought rough waters, rain and wind. Her trainer begged her to come out of the water, but all she could say is, "What for?" She finally reached the shores of Dover England at 9:35 and became the first women to successfully swim across the English Channel. Gertrude had also broken the men's record time by one hour and fifty-nine minutes with the time of fourteen hours and thirty-one minutes.

Because of her hearing disability her hopes of being a swimming instructor were dashed, until she started to teach deaf students how to swim. In 1965 she was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame.
I feel that Gertrude had a very big effect on women’s sports. She was one of the first women that helped disprove the belief that women were physically inferior to men. Her achievements show that hard work and a lot of determination gets your dreams accompished.

"to you for the indomitable courage, the skillful grace, the tremendous athletic prowess, which enabled you to be the first girl in the world to swim the English Channel." FROM SCROLL GIVEN TO HER BY THE CITY OF NEW YORK