Gertrude_Ederle

Gertrude Ederle Gertrude Caroline Ederle was born to a German immigrant family on October 23, 1906, in New York City. Gertrude’s mother taught her to swim at an early age. Gertrude’s mother tied a rope around her and let her down into the water. Dangling from the end of the rope, Gertrude learned to doggy paddle; within three days, she had learned to swim. After one year of high school, Gertrude dropped out. At about the same time, Gertrude's older sister, Margaret, encouraged her to swim for the Women's Swimming Association of New York, and there Gertrude received her early training and coaching. At the age of fourteen, Gertrude first demonstrated her long-distance swimming skill by defeating fifty-one other women in a three and one-half mile international race from Manhattan Beach to Brighton Beach. By the age of seventeen, Gertrude held eighteen world swimming records and was a member of the United States Olympic swimming team. During the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris, Gertrude won a gold and two bronze medals in the five racing events open to women. The following year, Gertrude swam the twenty-one mile distance from the Battery in lower Manhattan to Sandy Hook, New Jersey, in seven hours gertrude, swim, ederle, channel, women, swimming, water, hours, out, minutes, first, english, began, after, world, trainer, time, successfully, records, record, new, mile, august, age, york, year, woman, twenty-one, twenty-nine, twelve, three, swam, sports, sister, sandy, rope