Gertrude Ederle (born 1906) was one of the most famous athletes in the world. On August 6, 1926, she became the first woman to swim across the English Channel from France to England, a feat she accomplished in 14 hours 34 minutes. Her time beat the previous men's world record by 1 hour and 59 minutes.

The daughter of German immigrants to New York City, Gertrude Ederle was born on October 23, 1906. Her love of swimming began at an early age, when Ederle's family spent summers at a riverside cottage in Highlands, New Jersey. When they returned to the city for the winter, she swam in the 10th Avenue horse troughs, earning punishment from her father.

On August 1, 1922, when she was 15, Ederle grabbed world attention when she entered the Joseph P. Day Cup, a 3 1/2-mile race across New York Bay. As a long-distance swimmer, she was completely unknown; before that day, her longest race had been...