100 Years ago Today! Gertrude Ederle becomes the first woman to successfully cross the Channel ~ August 6, 1926
Gertrude Ederle vs. the Channel
The setting for the greatest sports story of the year, to my mind, will be the twenty-two miles of sullen gray Channel water between Cape Gris-Nez and Dover early in August, when Gertrude Ederle makes her second attempt to conquer the elements that beat her last year. Only five men out of the hundreds who have tried have made it and not a single woman.
This is more than a great melodramatic sporting event. The Ederle family is installed at the Hotel of the Lighthouse talking it over and Pa Ederle is planning his celebration in the event of his daughter’s victory. And Gertrude said naïvely, “And I’ll bet all the women in the world will celebrate that night.” That is the keynote of the interest. Swimming the Channel is a supreme test of courage and endurance, requiring a physique which makes victory possible. And a victory for Gertrude Ederle will be one of the greatest feminist stories, as well as one which will appeal to the dullest imagination.
In Paris the gamblers are willing to give heavy odds on the Channel against the young champion of her sex, a girl who is to make the attempt to demonstrate that the members of her sex can possess virtues held previously exclusively by the masculine. She is trying for the second time a feat that only the hardiest and most exceptionally equipped male swimmers have succeeded in accomplishing.
Standing beside Miss Ederle as she sat on one of the rocks near the lighthouse and looked across the gray, sullen water, I’d be inclined to back this girl against the Channel. If there is one woman who can make the swim, it is this girl, with the shoulders and back of Jack Dempsey and the frankest and bravest pair of eyes that ever looked into a face. It is improbable, but not impossible.
At first Miss Ederle gives the impression of being dull, because she is slightly deaf through an injury to her eardrums from swimming and because, like all swimmers, she is a mouth breather. But she is far from dull. She has a sense of humor. She told me of her last attempt, when she swam for an hour on instinct alone, blinded, deaf, and only half conscious. She remembered only the humor of the trip.
She told of the correspondents boarding the tug at Cape Gris-Nez airily waving at her and saying, “See you in Dover.” Then she told in words and pantomime how they crawled off on the English side, wan and seasick, and how one of them said, “This is the last time I make any Channel swims.” She threw back her bobbed head and laughed with the heartiness of a big boy.
“This time,” she said, “I am preparing myself to stay eighteen hours in the water. The last time I was trying for a record. When I start again it will be with the idea of reaching the other side, and I will not quit until I cannot move.”
As she spoke she peered through the chill mists that hid the outlines of the English coast. Below, the Channel was growling as it lashed against the rocks with a constant menace. Behind her was standing the north coast of France.
“All I am going to get for this is a roadster. Pa promised me one if I make the swim this time. So I’ll be seeing nothing but that roadster on the boat while I am making the swim.” A little while later she was cuddling a little baby rabbit, which she had picked up in the fields, against her brown cheek. A strange mixture is this girl, with the simplicity of Shaw’s Joan of Arc and the physique and many attributes of a male giant. To picture what eighteen hours in the Channel might seem you must stand with her on the rocks at Cape Gris-Nez.
Consider the ancestry of this young Amazon. Her grandmother was the mother of twenty-one children and she is still alive and active in Stuttgart, on the edge of the Black Forest in Germany. When this swim is over Gertrude is going to visit her. The swimmer herself is one of a family of twelve—one of the old-fashioned German-American families.
Her training quarters are rougher than those of any prize fighter I have ever visited. In fact, the manager of one of these delicate male athletes would seize his fighter and flee at first sight of the Hotel of the Lighthouse, with beds that sag in the middle and running water that never runs. The diet she eats would shock a trainer. It is the diet of a stenographer mixed with pickles. Yet I have heard third-rate prize fighters complaining that they didn’t get their proper nourishment even when they had their own chefs.
The loneliness would make even an unimaginative prize fighter mad in a few weeks. But this girl keeps her even temper and her sunny good humor, living day by day with a battlefield by her side. This time she is under the charge of the gray-haired William Burgess, who swam the Channel years ago, and a man who has spent his life studying its changes and its cruel moods. The present plan is to have Gertrude Ederle start from the point on the French coast where he finished and have the light of Cape Gris-Nez guide her through the long, weary miles of darkness and silence, broken only by the growl of the waters.
She was at the door of the lighthouse when I left her with her toy phonograph playing a jazz tune. She held out one of the strong brown hands that will beat against the waters of the Channel and said with that boyish smile, “Good-by, good luck.”
I felt that I would sooner be in that tug the day she starts than at the ringside of the greatest fight or at the arena of the greatest game in the world, for this, in my opinion, is to be the greatest sports story in the world.
Written by the New York Daily News, August 1926
Counting down to the 100th Anniversary Celebration of Gertrude Ederle’s successful Crossing of the English Channel ~ August 6, 2026
On August 6, 1926, Gertrude “Trudy” Ederle became the first woman to successfully swim the English Channel. Only five men had completed the Channel swim before Trudy, beginning with Captain Matthew Webb in August, 1875. In 1926, it was said that women were dainty and could not possibly achieve a feat so grueling as swimming the English Channel. Not only did Ederle complete the grueling Channel swim, but she beat all the men’s times by two hours.
As we count down to the Centennial anniversary of Trudy’s swim this week, we are going to share “All Things Trudy” with you, leading up to her swim.
As we start our series, we begin with the first photo, of Trudy with her father, and her sister Meg on the boat heading to England in 1926 for Trudy’s second attempt to cross the Channel. Trudy had tried the Summer before, but this time she would be more prepared, as she knew what to expect, and more importantly, she would have the moral support of her father and her sister, Meg.
They would land in England, spend almost two months getting ready on both sides of the Channel, Dover and Cape Gris Nez, preparing for the swim. This year she would be ready; she had a new trainer and lots of swimming friends surrounding her.
International Swim & Save Program “Leucothea” created by Dr. Stathis Avramidis, Greek Lifesaving Sports Assoc.
Greece 25.07.2024. On the World Drowning Prevention Day, seven international organizations launch the International Swim & Save Program “Leucothea”, to preserve human lives from aquatic related injuries through free online education on swimming, safety, resuscitation, first aid, survival, fair play, and lifesaving sport.
The problem
Our world is covered at 75% by water. Drowning is a global public health problem, with 1 fatal death every 30 seconds. Those aged 0-5 years old, teenagers and elderly belong to a high-risk group. There is clearly a need for preventing death in these age groups.
The solution
To achieve drowning prevention, resources are needed (money, access to training facilities) but this does not necessarily mean that such intervention is always effective or available to the potential “victims”. According to a famous quote, “the bait should be attractive to the fish and not to the fisherman.” In our today’s society, children learn how to use technology often before they are able to walk and even before their parents find the time or money to offer them proper swimming lessons. Likewise, adults spend a substantial time scrolling on their electronic devices.
The program is endorsed by the following organizations: Greek Lifesaving Sports Association (GLSA), International Federation of Swimming Teachers’ Association (IFSTA), International Life Saving Federation (ILS), International Life Saving Federation of Europe (ILSE), International Swimming Hall of Fame (ISHOF), Mediterranean Lifesaving Confederation (MLC), Lifesaving Network (LiNe).
Creator of Leucothea is Dr Stathis Avramidis, GLSA President, MLC Secretary General and ISHOF Every Child A Swimmer Committee Member. It was developed by the following students from Furtwangen University (Germany): Antonios Stefanakis (Greece), Takal Ebrahimkhel (Germany), Marian Ankoma-Sey (Ghana), Mohammad Sharif Azimy (Afghanistan), Basim Siddiqui (Pakistan), and Gayatri Naidu Arnapalli (India).
Content
The program is composed by 18 modules that are available online. The content deals with the issues of drowning and water safety in all aquatic environments, theories and models of water safety, rescue methods, fair play, swimming and lifesaving sport techniques and legendary figures who excelled in their career as athletes, lifeguards or administrators. The number of modules may increase in the future. Water is our world, but sky is our limit! Upon successful reading of the modules, the participants may test their understanding and receive 18 elegant certificates. This may hopefully motivate them to attend theoretical and practical on swimming and lifesaving lessons.
Comments
The ILS Secretary General, Dr Harald Vervaecke PHD, said: “Leucothea represents an important step in raising water safety awareness globally.”
The ISHOF Chairman of the Board, Dr Bill Kent, said: “Congratulations for uniting prestigious organizations and for creating a priceless modern educational means that can save lives. We are happy to support initiatives that make swimming and lifesaving education accessible to all.”
The MLC President, Dott. Giorgio Quintavalle, said: ““Leucothea is an innovative idea to reach everyone and everywhere, without being limited by time or money. Everyone with internet access can learn how to protect themselves and what to do to save others in and around the water. Congratulations!”
The ILSE President, Dirk Bissinger, said: “We appreciate the effort and contribution to drowning prevention and water safety. Thanks for adding this valuable tool to the community.”
The Deputy President of the Royal Life Saving Society Commonwealth and Co-Chair of the Canadian Drowning Prevention Coalition, Dr Steve Beerman, said: “Children need basic survival swim skills, communities need trained lifesavers. We can deliver this training in a safe and effective manner in all settings.”
The IFSTA President, Leslie Donavan, said: “We applaud the Greek Lifesaving Sports Association and the team of students from Furtwangen University for creating the International Swim & Save Program Leucothea.”
The Project Coordinator of the Lifesaving Network, Bojan Golubovic, said: “Leucothea is a beautiful and user-friendly instrument that helps us meet our constitutional goals and to use the technology for teaching swimming, survival, safety, sports across the globe.”
The GLSA President and creator of the program, Dr Stathis Avramidis, said: “In our first meeting, the team said that they should create an application as part of their academic commitments. It could be something that would improve the professional activity of any kind of client, for example the owner of a pizza restaurant. I asked: “Do you want to sell pizza or to save lives from drowning?” They were inspired and decided to help me serve a higher purpose. This is how Leucothea was born.”
Advantages
The program has several advantages:
it is available online on a 24/7/365 basis.
It is available to every organization and individual.
It can engage people at school, home, holidays or at a sports club.
It offers to the youngsters the opportunity to use the technology that is so dear for gaining easily accessible knowledge.
It helps children to build self-esteem with the certificates of accomplishment and adults to gain basic awareness and stimulation to expand their learning experiences.
It helps organisations to make their members feel creative and become safe.
It fulfills the mission of all the involved organisations to enhance drowning prevention and water safety at no cost.
Invitation
We encourage everyone (World Aquatics, International Life Saving Federation, National Olympic Organisations, parents, swimming and lifesaving clubs, schools, summer camps, scouts and youth organisations) to circulate and use the program. Nobody can cope drowning alone. Together we can!
Access
To access the program, click here: https://leucothea.vercel.app/
August Honoree: After The Applause ~ Klaus DiBiasi, Honor Diver, 1981
Honoree Questions for: Klaus Dibiasi ~ Honor Diver
You were inducted in 1981, tell us what you have been up to since then?
After the Moscow Olympics 1980 I was still in charge by the Italian Swimming Federation as National Head Coach and had many occasions to compete again with the Italian diving team in Ft. Lauderdale. In 2006 my father Carlo was introduced in the Hall of Fame as Pioneer Coach. Later I was Technical Director and on the board of the Federation. I was also in LEN and FINA for several years and now I am the Secretary of TDC in European Aquatics and am still working for the Federation.
2. What do you do for work / as a profession?
I am retired, but since 1990 I opened with my wife Laura Schermi in Roma the diving club named in memory of father “Papa Carlo”, A.S.D.Carlo Dibiasi. My work is then still with the Italian Swimming Federation as Technical Diving Collaborator.
3. Are you still involved in diving in any capacity?
I have spent my life in Diving and really love my sport. I am no more active as coach on pool-deck but am busy with my Diving Club and European Aquatics where I am involved in educational programs for judges and coaches.
4. Do you still stay in touch with any diving friends from your competition days, if so, who?
Of course, my best friend is Team-made Giorgio Cagnotto with whom I shared all my diving activity and coaching. I was in contact with coach Dick Smith, Dr. Sammy Lee, Dick Kimball and Carlos Giron for many years when they were alive and now, at the Paris Olympics 24 I have met again my friend Greg Louganis. Unfortunately, some good diving friends I competed with, passed already away.
5. If you have children, do your kids dive, if yes, tell us about them, if no, tell us about what they are involved in (sports, arts, etc.)
Yes, I have a daughter with my wife Laura, Elisa Dibiasi, who is really a sportive girl having practiced beside diving, skiing, tennis, kick boxing, climbing, canoeing and horse riding, (one time she rode the famous hors “Diver” of Dick Smith at his home).
She is now living in Ericeira, Portugal practicing surfing. She studied photography for three years in Roma and likes drawing and painting.
6. What is best memory of your days in diving? (You can have more than one)
1964 when we entered the first time the Olympic Pool build by Kenzo Tange, we realized that Olympics are special. Then, my last competition with Greg Louganis in Montreal 76 when I had my physical problems and could not train as expected, the experience and the mind power made there an incredible difference. Also the CAN-AM-MEX competitions from cold Canada to warm Ft.Lauderdale and Mexico were always my preferred diving experiences.
7. Seeing the changes that have occurred in diving/aquatics now versus when you were competing, do you wish you could have competed now, or are you glad you competed when you did and why?
First of all, you can’t compare different eras directly. Situations are much different. On one side I was really happy to have been diving in a period when diving was limited by DD table and really an amatorial activity without great pressure exalting beauty and technique. For that time, we have been the best physical prepared and technically guided athletes. Today it is much different, Pierre De Coubertin’s Olympic principles are almost overwritten and more effort is spent into diving by the federations and the athletes may have also economical profit. Since in 1994 the DD table has been opened and Chinese divers were admitted again the performances raised quickly showing all the hardest dives an individual can perform. Amazing for me was to see the video of Mexican Joaquin Capilla in 1951 trying a 4 1/2 somersault from 10m platform which was not allowed in competition that time. The spring boards have changed much and so the hurdle technique, permitting harder dives for men and women but the platform is still the same. Except economical reasons I am really happy to have lived in an era when diving came really from our heart and coaches were mostly volunteers…
8. Have you written a memoir/book about yourself, if yes, what’s the title and can our readers purchase it? If not, do you ever plan on written a book?
When I met again in Roma my good friend Mario Zanotelli, a diver from my club in Bolzano, and saw that he was a very good cartoonist with a strong sense of humor, I decided to write my book about diving “Tuffi per Tutti” (Diving for Everybody). The content is for any kind of diver from beginner to advanced, with technical advices. The humoristic notes are not missing and it is really fun to go through. Obviously, the introduction is a historical review of my life. The book is in Italian and available on Amazon and other book stores. An English version is planned soon.
9. Any advice to all the future want-to-be Olympic divers out there?
Diving is not an easy sport and needs years of practice to become competitive; that’s why you need to love what you are doing and having fun during even hard workouts. Trust your coaches and do not set too high targets too close. Each new dive you learn brings you a step forward and you can say “I made it” feeling great. It is like a castle to build starting with the first brick! Believe in it and remember, you will never finish to learn new dives!
10. As an Olympian, National Team Member, you travelled all over the world. What was your favorite place you visited, or your favorite meet to attend?
I can tell you that long time ago our Federation sent us to many European important Diving Meetings and never overseas. Then, when the time came to join the CAN-AM-MEX Diving Meetings, a different world was discovered and specially when we dove the first time in Ft. Lauderdale with all the friendly people and a really holiday climate, it was love at first sight. The competitions were high level and well organized. The specialty was the “Friday night show” before the competitions showing humoristic dives and special dives by some famous coaches with a small trampoline put on the 10m platform. The Hall of Fame Museum was also an amazing institution. I am glad about the restructuring done recently to the facility including the High Diving tower and the new Museum building keeping high history and actual needs for diving competitions.
I add a historical picture of high diving done when it was started in Ft Lauderdale as exhibition. An incredible height, must have been about 40m!!! I can’t remember the year….
International Swimming Hall of Fame and Lynne Cox Featured on Travel Channel’s “Mysteries at the Museum”
Have you ever wondered why is the International Swimming Hall of Fame is so important?
The answer is simple. It is the only entity that archives important aquatic related memorabilia in order to preserve history and educate the next generation. Nothing demonstrates this fact more than the recent Travel Channel’s show Mysteries at the Museum. The episode was filmed at the International Swimming Hall of Fame and documented the journey of Lynne Cox, who was the first swimmer to swim the Bering Strait from Alaska to the Soviet Union in the summer of 1987. Her swim demonstrated how close the Soviet Union and the United States were to each other and was instrumental in ending the Cold War between the two super powers.
“I wanted to open the border so we could become friends,” says Cox, who first conceived of the idea of the swim in 1976 and spent years lobbying Soviet officials for permission to enter their waters.”The difficulty was that nobody believed it could happen.” – Not just swimming in freezing water, but to bring an end to the cold war.
After being ignored at every turn, Cox finally decided to use “every last penny” of her savings to do her swim. On the eve of the swim, there was still no word from Moscow, and the military on both sides of the Cold War were jittery.
But at the last minute, the Soviets had sent a top-level delegation, including KGB officials and sports stars. They had even prepared a small beach party. The swim turned Cox into a Cold War celebrity in the United States and the Soviet Union.
When President Gorbachev traveled to Washington to sign a nuclear weapons treaty later that year, he and President Reagan raised a glass to toast the swimmer.
“She proved by her courage how close to each other our peoples live,” Gorbachev said.
Lynne Cox was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 2000. Support the International Swimming Hall of Fame by becoming a member
Read Lynne Cox’s ISHOF Honoree bio here:
Lynne Cox
Country: USA
Honoree Type: Open Water Swimmer
FOR THE RECORD: First crossing of the Catalina Island Channel (1971) 12:36 hrs.; Women’s and men’s record crossing of the English Channel (1972) 9:57 hrs.; Women’s and men’s record crossing of the English Channel (1973) 9:36 hrs., Catalina Island Channel crossing record (1974) 8:48 hrs.; Cook Straits between North and South Islands of New Zealand (1975) 12 hrs., 2 min.; Straits of Magellan (Chile), Oresund and Skagerrak (Scandinavia) (1976) 1 hr., 2 min.; Aleutian Islands (three channels) 1977; Cape of Good Hope (S. Africa) 1979; Around Joga Shima (Japan) 1980; Across three lakes in New Zealand’s Southern Alps (1983); Twelve difficult “Swims Across America” (1984); “Around the World in 80 Days”, 12 extremely challenging swims totaling 80+ miles (1985); Across the Bering Strait, U.S. to Soviet Union (1987) 2 hr., 6 min.; Across Lake Baikal, Soviet Union (1988); Across the Beagle Channel between Chile and Argentina (1990); Across the Spree River between the newly united German Republics (1990); Lake Titicaca Swim (1992).
Lynne Cox became the best cold water, long distance swimmer the world has ever seen. Her 5 foot 6 inch, 180-pound frame of a body was at one with the water. With a body density precisely that of sea water, her 36% body fat (normal is 18% to 25%) gave her neutral buoyancy. Her energy could be used all for propulsion and not to keep afloat. Propelling though the most treacherous waters of the globe is what Lynne Cox did best.
When her parents moved the family from New Hampshire to Los Alamitos, California in 1969 so that Lynne and her older brother and two sisters could receive better swim coaching, Hall of Fame coach Don Gambril, at the Phillips 66 Swim Club, took her under his guidance. What he saw was a large-boned girl with boundless energy and great upper body strength who could slice through the water like a porpoise. When she was 14 and already tired of “going back and forth in the pool and going nowhere”, Gambril urged her to enter a series of rough water swims near Long Beach. As a result in 1971, at age 14, she swam the 31-mile Catalina Channel in Southern California with four other friends. She loved it. The chill, the chop, the solitude, and the liberation were all exhilarating to Lynne. “Everything opened up. It was like going from a cage to freedom.”
For the next two decades, Lynne competed against the elements in swims which took her to all the major bodies of water in the world, many of which had not been crossed before and most of which had not been done by a woman. Her study of history at the University of California Santa Barbara may have been a catalyst in choosing which swims to pursue. It became her desire to use her swims to help bring people together, to work toward a more peaceful world. This realization was sparked during her 1975 swim as the first woman to swim the 10-mile Cook Straits in New Zealand in 12 hours 2-1/2 minutes. During this difficult swim, the outcry of support from the New Zealand people was all she needed to finish this 50 degree Fahrenheit swim, even when the tides and current had taken her farther away from the starting point after the first five hours of the crossing.
Her most famous swim was in 1987, eleven years after her father had planted the seed in her head. Lynne completed 2.7 miles in the Bering Straits, 350 miles north of Anchorage, Alaska where the water temperature ranges from 38-42 degrees Fahrenheit. Perhaps the most incredible of cold water swims, her 2 hours, 16 minutes from Little Diomede (USA) to Big Diomede (USSR) astonished the physiologists who were monitoring her swim. It marked one of the coldest swims ever completed. One can’t get much colder. After this temperature, the water turns to ice. It was a swim that brought the United States and Soviet Union together in an exchange of glasnost and perestroika. In Washington, Presidents Reagan and Gorbachov toasted Lynne’s swim saying that she “proved by her courage how closely to each other our peoples live”. Before this time, at the start of the Cold War, the families of the Diomede Islands had been split and had not been permitted to see one another since 1948.
Lynne is the purist of marathon swimmers. She does not wear a wet suit in frigid water and does not use a cage in shark infested waters. Her swims in Iceland’s 40 degree F Lake Myzvtan and Alaska’s 38 degree F Glacier Bay, where the lead boat had to break a path in the one quarter inch ice, were done wearing only a swim suit, cap and goggles. She wanted to do more than just achieve times and set records. And she did. But in the process, she became the fastest person to swim the English Channel (1972 and again in 1973), the first person to swim the Straits of Magellan (Chile) 4-1/2 miles, 42 degree F (1976), Norway to Sweden, 15 miles 44 degree F (1976), three bodies of water in the Aleutian Islands (USA) 8 miles total, 44 degree F (1977) and around the Cape of Good Hope (South Africa) 10 miles, 70 degree F which attracted sharks, jellyfish and sea snakes (1978). Many other swims included Lake Biakal in the Soviet Union (1988), the Beagle Channel of Argentina and Chile (1990) and around the Japanese Island of Joga Shima. In 1994 at the age of 37 years, she swam the Gulf of Aqaba in the Red Sea joining the 15 miles of 80-degree water between Egypt, Israel and Jordan. She has swum Lake Titicaca in the Andes Mountains, the world’s highest navigable lake.
Lynne works as an author, motivational lecturer, and teaches swimming technique both in the pool and open water.
The information on this page was written the year of their induction
ISHOF becomes new home to a 100-year-old treasure; personal scrapbook of Gertrude Ederle, the first woman to successfully swim the English Channel (August 6, 1926)
The family of Gertrude “Trudy” Ederle decided to personally entrust the swimmer’s 100-year-old original scrapbook to ISHOF into the care of Historian Bruce Wigo — a milestone on the road to the centennial swim on August 6, 2026. Trudy had a long history with ISHOF, giving some of her most cherished possessions to the museum, while she was alive and keeping a close friendship with original founding Executive Director, Buck Dawson and Curator Bob Duenkel for many years.
“It is one of the most significant private documents in the history of swimming”, said Tobias Kolesnyk, Director Strategic Communication of the Trudy Ederle Foundation.
Earlier this month, Mary Ederle Ward, Trudy’s niece, officially presented Ederle’s original scrapbook to the International Swimming Hall of Fame (ISHOF) into the hands of Bruce Wigo, ISHOF Historian and the institution’s longtime President and CEO (2005–2017), together with his wife Janet. The couple traveled from Florida especially for the occasion — to the place where the scrapbook’s journey into the heritage of world swimming now begins.
The large-format album, bound in black leather, bears a gold-embossed inscription: “Gertrude ‘Trudy’ Ederle — World’s Champion Swimmer — Conqueror of the English Channel — August 6, 1926.” It holds original newspaper clippings and documents from the days when a 19-year-old New Yorker made history.
On August 6, 1926, Trudy Ederle became the first woman to successfully cross the English Channel. Her time: 14 hours and 34 minutes — roughly two hours faster than the men’s record of the day. She returned home to America to the largest ticker-tape parade to fill to streets of lower Manhattan. Two million people lined the “Canyon of Heroes” to get a glimpse of Ederle and to celebrate her milestone. It was the first time a tickertape was celebrated for a woman. And now 100 years on, we will once again celebrate Trudy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84fYnCEVfJI
As for the scrapbook, for nearly a century, the Ederle family kept this album in private hands. That it now passes to the world’s leading institution for swimming heritage — just weeks before the 100th anniversary — is sheer coincidence. “The family entrusting this treasure to ISHOF is more than a gift. It is a promise to the future: Trudy’s story belongs to the world,” said Tobias Kolesnyk, Director Strategic Communication of the Gertrude Ederle Foundation. ISHOF plans to highlight this treasure in our new museum (opening late 2028) as one of the most culturally significant artifacts of the women’s rights movement of the early 20th century.
ISHOF and The Foundation will share further details about the legendary scrapbook, its contents, and its plans for the 100th anniversary of the Channel crossing at a later date. Both ISHOF and the Foundation plan to be in Dover, England on the 100th Anniversary of Trudy’s Crossing (August 6, 1926) to celebrate the remarkable achievement.
ISHOF also plans to be in Highlands, New Jersey for “Trudyfest”, along with Mary Ederle Ward to celebrate “Trudy” which will be celebrated on August 15, 2026.
Stayed tuned for all things “Trudy”.
ISHOF Seeking nominations for the 2027 Aquatic Awards presented by AquaCal in all categories
ISHOF seeks nominations for the 2027 ISHOF Aquatic Awards presented by AquaCal
The International Swimming Hall of Fame announces the call for nominations for the 2027 ISHOF Aquatic Awards to be presented at the International Swimming Hall of Fame’s Honoree Induction weekend, which will be held in Fort Lauderdale, date TBD. Sponsored by AquaCal, the awards are presented each year for outstanding contributions and leadership in several swimming and aquatic-related categories.
Candidates may be nominated for the Aquatic Awards in the following categories:
Competitive Swimming
Competitive Diving
Competitive Synchronized Swimming
Competitive Water Polo
Aquatic Safety
Recreational Swimming
Kindly submit your nominees by August 30, 2026. Please include any relevant data to support your nomination, the aquatic category for nomination, as well as a brief biography of each individual, a high-resolution image and their current contact information.
Get more information about the event and see the 2026 winners: https://ishof.org/ishof-to-celebrate-aquatic-awards-presented-by-aquacal-as-kickoff-to-honoree-weekend/
Nominations may be sent to:
Meg Keller-Marvin
International Swimming Hall of Fame
e-mail: meg@ishof.org
(570) 594.4367
Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.
ISHOF calling for nominations for the Class of 2027 ~ DUE: August 1, 2026
It is that time of year, when we at ISHOF, ask for nominations from all disciplines and from all around the globe. Each individual should have achieved tremendous success in their aquatic discipline(s) and/or made a significant impact on the sport of aquatics through their lifelong efforts. Nominations must be submitted along with supporting materials by August 1, 2026.
You may submit your nomination online by visiting: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdbWjNJq9cc0r3Jj5RePDhMmc8ToA1HX9fyjqFnNupU2FIAjQ/viewform
Or you may send your nomination to meg@ishof.org
Generally, athletes shall not be chosen unless retired from international competition at least four years or at least one Olympic quadrennial. “Athletes” refers to swimmers, open water swimmers (World Aquatics), divers, water polo players and artistic (synchronized) swimmers.
A coach must have a significant international record and have been coaching at least 25 years.
A contributor must have been in aquatics at least 20 years and have had a significant international impact. Athletic achievement should NOT be considered, contributions are to the overall improvement or development of “international” sport through leadership, journalism, invention or other area of great, outstanding impact
Remember the key word – “international”. Emphasis should be placed on the international impact made by the nominee, not just within his or her own country. Voting for athletes should be based on the items in the following order of importance: • Olympic gold medals • World Records • Number of Olympic medals won, Olympic Games attended and Olympic finals achieved.
• World Championship gold medals, Numbers of total World Championship medals won • World Cup, Grand Prix gold medals • Regional Championships won (European Championships, Commonwealth Games, Pan American Games, Asian Games, Pan Pacific, South American Games, etc.)
ISHOF Honoree Greta Johansson Brandsten honored with bronze statue in Stockholm, celebrated as Sweden’s first female Olympic gold medalist in diving
by Meg Keller-Marvin / ISHOF
On Monday, June 8, ISHOF’s 1973 Honor Diver, Greta Johansson Brandsten, was honored in her hometown of Stockholm, Sweden by the Sveriges Centralförening för Idrottens Främjande (SCIF), which in English, is the Swedish Central Association for the Promotion of Sports. The SCIF was founded on May 7, 1897 in the Royal Palace in Stockholm and today, the association still enjoys royal protection. It was also thanks to the SCIF that Sweden was selected to host the fifth Olympics in 1912, known as “The Sunshine Olympics,” that Greta Johansson competed in and won Olympic gold.
Greta Johansson in bronze
Swedish Sculptor, Peter Linde created a bronze sculpture of Greta Johansson as she was during her diving days in Stockholm which was unveiled before a crowd on Monday afternoon.
Jens Lind & Peter Linde, sculptor Ulrika Knape, ISHOF Honoree & Jens Lind
Journalist, Jens Lind, who created the documentary, “Guld Greta”, about Johansson, was the moderator of Monday’s event. After Rajne Söderberg, Chairman of the SCIF, welcomed the crowd, Jens Lind moderated a question and answer session from several individuals. The first was the well known Swedish sculptor, Peter Linde who spoke about how he created the sculpture and what went into this thought process. Next, Lind interviewed, 1982 Honor Diver and 1972 Olympic gold medalist, Ulrika Knape. Knape spoke about winning her gold medal, what it was like and a little about Greta and the sculpture itself.
The Royal Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden, Heir Apparent and Meg Keller-Marvin, ISHOF
Lastly, Jens interviewed me asking about ISHOF and if I remembered meeting Greta when she was inducted. I did not, as I was only 10 years old at the time but there are photos of me being there. Lind asked about the purpose of the Swimming Hall of Fame, I clarified that it was not only about swimming, but that it represented all the aquatic disciplines, including Greta’s sport of diving, as well as water polo, artistic swimming, and masters swimming.
Princess Victoria and Rajne Soderberg cutting the ribbon
After the interviews, Jens invited the Royal Crown Princess, Victoria, Heir Apparent and Rajne Söderberg, Chairman of the SCIF to cut the ribbon on the sculpture. Many photos were taken with the new bronze sculpture, sitting on the banks of the Baltic Sea, where the swimming and diving events took place in 1912.
Ulrika Knape, Meg Keller-Marvin, Mathz Lindberg (Ulrika’s husband)
There was a nice size crowd of 75-100 people in attendance. Besides Crown Princess Victoria, Ulrike Knape and her husband, Mathz Lindberg and the others mentioned, also in attendance was the President of the Swedish Swimming Federation, Pia Zätterström, the National Team Captain, Sofia Garametsos, along with many Board Members of SCIF. It was interesting to hear about their different sports represented by the Board Members, including: pistol shooting, basketball, ice hockey, water polo and track and field.
We were invited to visit the 1912 Olympic Stadium which is now the oldest Olympic stadium still in existence. Even today, it is still used for major international track meets, which was GREAT to hear! We also got to tour the SCIF offices inside the stadium, which housed quite a bit of wonderful memorabilia, much of it from 1912.
The original 1912 Stockholm Olympic Poster
Read about Greta here:
Sweden’s Gift To the World of DivingGreta Johansson Brandsten was born on January 9, 1895. She learned toswim and dive in Stockholm’s municipal baths with free tickets issuedthrough her public school. Swedish children were then required to take effi-ciency swimming tests that included breaststroke, backstroke, underwaterswimming, deep sea diving to pick up objects, long distance swimming, and“trampoline diving” from 5m and 10m heights.
Greta enjoyed her swimming and at age 15 she became the Swedish national breaststroke champion. The next year (1911) she won the Nationals again, this time in the 100m freestyle and in high diving where she was self taught.In 1912, at the ripe old age of 17 she won an Olympic gold medal in her hometown Stockholm, was decorated by her King, and won diving’s most coveted award, The Countess de Casa Miranda Challenge Cup, presented to her by the Countess herself (Kristina Nilsson, one of the world’s most famous opera singers).
After the Olympics, Greta taught swimming and diving in a small town in the south of Sweden. Then she received a letter from one of her Olympic teammates, Ernst Brandsten, who invited her to join him in America as his wife.Brandsten was living in San Francisco where he was a professional diver who made his living by diving off the topmasts of tall ships and giving swimming lessons. What spurred the invitation was his hiring as a physical education teacher at the University of California, where he taught swimming diving and gymnastics.
When she arrived, Greta joined him not only as his wife, but as the women’s instructor. Moving across the bay in 1915, the two divers became a famous team as Ernst coached Stanford swimming from 1915 to 1948 and several U.S. Olympic diving teams, and generally helped make the USA the superpower of world diving into the 1980’s.
Greta never returned to Sweden and there is little trace of her there. Until now. When Swedish television was doing a documentary on the “Sunshine Olympics” as the 1912 Stockholm Games are known, Jens Lind (pictured on right) came to Ft. Lauderdale and the International Swimming Hall of Fame. The film, soon to be available through ISHOF, has won numerous international awards.
Read Greta’s Honoree bio from 1973 here: https://ishof.org/honoree/honoree-greta-johanson-brandsten/
Every Child a Swimmer: Creating a Generation of Swimmers
As the mission-driven initiative of the International Swimming Hall of Fame (ISHOF), Every Child a Swimmer (ECAS) continues to expand its impact nationwide through swim lesson scholarships, water safety education, strategic partnerships, and legislative advocacy, all with one goal in mind: preventing childhood drowning and creating a generation of swimmers.
Today, ECAS has grown to include more than 400 swim school locations across 46 states, creating one of the nation’s largest collaborative networks dedicated to water safety and learn-to-swim access. Through these partnerships, ECAS awarded more than $800,000 in swim lesson scholarships in 2025, helping nearly 3,000 children gain access to life-saving swim lessons nationwide. A key component of the ECAS model is accountability and measurable outcomes. The program works closely with partner swim schools to track student progress and ensure children develop critical water competency skills, including the ability to safely exit the pool independently and/or float on their backs.
Beyond scholarships, ECAS continues to lead efforts to bring water safety education directly to families through legislation. To date, water safety initiatives championed by ECAS have been passed in nine states, helping provide parents with critical drowning prevention education through schools and healthcare systems. Together, ISHOF and ECAS represent both the legacy and future of aquatics, honoring the history of swimming while helping ensure more children have the opportunity to safely participate in it.