Gertrude Ederle

Part of The Trailblazers Series

Around 9:30 PM on 6th August 1926, Gertrude “Trudy” Ederle found herself amidst the treacherously cold waters of the English Channel, looking for land in the dark.

Fifteen minutes later, she walked out of the water and onto the shores of Kingsdown, Kent, England, making history.

She became the first woman to swim the English Channel successfully.

This was a monumental moment for Trudy and the sporting world, but we need to back up a bit to understand how this story unfolds.

In this Trailblazers piece, I'll share Trudy's journey from her childhood dealing with social constraints to being a shining beacon for women in performance sports.

I'll also highlight lessons and strategies we can learn from Trudy's life along the way.

Let's begin with:

Trudy’s early life and introduction to swimming

Swimming touched Trudy's life not as an extracurricular activity but as a response to a near-fatal incident.

Around age 8, Trudy had a life-threatening accident where she nearly drowned in a pond.

What usually becomes a life-long fear became an inspiration for Trudy. Surviving this incident, Trudy decided that she would learn the life-saving skill of swimming.

Her father took responsibility for teaching Trudy to swim, but his method was somewhat unorthodox.

During the holidays, he took Trudy to Shrewsbury River in New Jersey, tied a rope around her waist, sent her into the river and asked her to paddle. The rope acted as a safety harness while Trudy splashed in the water, learning to swim:

In the following years, swimming became a vital part of Trudy's life, and she soon joined the Women's Swimming Association (WSA) in New York.

By age 12, Trudy had decided to drop out of school to learn swimming all year round at the WSA.

While dropping out of school is not always a good idea, this decision shows Trudy's resolve to pursue swimming as a serious sport from an early age.

And this decision bore fruit soon enough.