Hey,
Did anyone read "The Greatest Swim" by Gavin Mortimer? Amid the storytelling there a few specific things that caught my attention:
1. Ederle held the world record for 400m at 5:54. I guess she had atbest a 26 min mile in her
2. Still, she was the fastest swimmer to attempt the channel to date, so far as anyone knows. One or her "competitors" was using the fact that she could swim a 38 min mile as a point in her favor...YIKES! I can swim that and I do not think I am remotely fast enough to ever even dream of the channel, unless I can stay afloat unaided for a week or two.
3. Ederle's handler wanted her to stick to a steady 24 strokes/min. What did THAT look like?
Swimming was very different then...but they still puked up saltwater if they had too much of it...wish I could have been there...
Comments?
Former Member
Yes, I read it a few weeks ago. It was very interesting. What I thought was especially interesting was that the Ederle that was painted in the book was far different then the Ederle that has been painted in common legend. Namely, that she wasn't just a shy, unassuming person, but actually had some vanity, ambition and all the other frailties that people are prey to.
It really was an excellent book & well-researched.
-LBJ
I read the book a few weeks ago and loved it. I thought it was both interesting and inspiring. Besides fighting the English Channel, these women all had to battle the stereotypes and attitudes towards women that were popular in the 1920's. I especially found it interesting that Ederle and her sister made her suits and goggles (I guess Speedo wasn't around then...).
A couple other great open water swimming books are Lynne Cox's "Swimming to Antarctica" and "Grayson".
I was at the library with my kids yesterday and was looking at the sports books in the children's section. I have looked before and have not seen any swimming books; but yesterday there were THREE!
One of the books was "America's Champion Swimmer Gertrude Ederle" and is beautifully illustrated. Of course, I checked it out and read it to my kids last night. The book was published in 2000, but it is new to our library.
Needless to say, I was very excited to see any kid-focused book on swimming but even more excited to find a book about Gertrude Ederle!
Hey,
Did anyone read "The Greatest Swim" by Gavin Mortimer? Amid the storytelling there a few specific things that caught my attention:
1. Ederle held the world record for 400m at 5:54. I guess she had atbest a 26 min mile in her
2. Still, she was the fastest swimmer to attempt the channel to date, so far as anyone knows. One or her "competitors" was using the fact that she could swim a 38 min mile as a point in her favor...YIKES! I can swim that and I do not think I am remotely fast enough to ever even dream of the channel, unless I can stay afloat unaided for a week or two.
3. Ederle's handler wanted her to stick to a steady 24 strokes/min. What did THAT look like?
Swimming was very different then...but they still puked up saltwater if they had too much of it...wish I could have been there...
Comments?
Thanks for the rec. I will have to pick this up.
... I especially found it interesting that Ederle and her sister made her suits and goggles (I guess Speedo wasn't around then...)...
A two-piece suit at that, and a full ten years before some French fellow supposedly invented the bikini! It must have been a lot less draggy than the competition suits available at the time, and also a little bit shocking. I've only ever seen one photograph of her wearing it, and it was surprisingly modern looking, like the sport bikinis some triathletes wear in hot climate races. I wonder what the fabric was?
