Personal information | |
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Born | 1976 (age 47–48) Eltham, Greater London, Great Britain |
Sport | |
Sport | Swimming |
Thomas Gregory (born 1976) swam the English Channel in 1988 at the age of 11 years and 330 days. As of 2023 [update] he still holds the record as the youngest person to have done so. [1]
Gregory's coming-of-age story about being the youngest person to swim the Channel, A Boy in the Water (2018, Penguin: ISBN 9780241354124) was joint winner of the 2018 William Hill Sports Book of the Year. [2] It was BBC Radio 4's Book of the Week in August 2018. [3] He served in the Royal Anglian Regiment of the British Army. [4] [5]
Marilyn Grace Bell Di Lascio is a Canadian retired long distance swimmer. She was the first person to swim across Lake Ontario and later swam the English Channel and Strait of Juan de Fuca.
Captain Matthew Webb was an English seaman, swimmer and stuntman. He is the first recorded person to swim the English Channel for sport without the use of artificial aids. In 1875, Webb swam from Dover to Calais in less than 22 hours. This made him a celebrity, and he performed many stunts in public. He died trying to swim the Niagara Gorge below Niagara Falls, a feat declared impossible.
Gertrude Caroline Ederle was an American competition swimmer, Olympic champion, and world record-holder in five events. On August 6, 1926, she became the first woman to swim across the English Channel. Among other nicknames, the press sometimes called her "Queen of the Waves".
Florence May Chadwick was an American swimmer known for long-distance open water swimming. She was the first woman to swim across the English Channel in both directions, setting a time record each time. She was also the first woman to swim the Catalina Channel, the Straits of Gibraltar, the Bosporus, and the Dardanelles.
Lynne Cox is an American long-distance open-water swimmer, writer and speaker. She is best known for being the first person to swim between the United States and the Soviet Union, in the Bering Strait, a feat which has been recognized for easing the Cold War tensions between U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.
Dr. Vicki Keith Munro, CM, O.Ont, LLD, ChPC is a Canadian retired marathon swimmer, coach and advocate for disabled athletes. Her accomplishments include the first crossing of all five Great Lakes, a 100-hour swim and the world record distance of 80.2 kilometers swum using the butterfly stroke. Many people consider Keith as the face of marathon swimming.
The Rottnest Channel Swim is an annual open water swimming event from Cottesloe Beach through Gage Roads to Rottnest Island, off the coast of Western Australia, near Perth.
Lewis William Gordon Pugh, OIG, is a British-South African endurance swimmer and ocean advocate. Dubbed the "Sir Edmund Hillary of swimming", he is the first person to complete a long-distance swim in every ocean of the world, and he frequently swims in vulnerable ecosystems to draw attention to their plight.
Leigh Ann Fetter, later known by her married name Leigh Ann Witt, is an American former competition swimmer and accomplished coach who represented the United States at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea.
Thomas William Burgess was the second person to successfully complete a swim of the English Channel after Matthew Webb. He performed the feat on 6 September 1911, on his 16th attempt. British by nationality, Burgess spent most of his life in France, and won a bronze medal with the French water polo team at the 1900 Olympics.
Farida Hisham Osman is an Egyptian competitive swimmer who specializes in butterfly and freestyle events. She is an All-Africa Games gold medalist and Egyptian national champion and record-holder. Osman is the fastest female swimmer in Egypt and Africa, she is currently coached by Teri McKeever. Osman holds the senior national records for all the butterfly, freestyle and backstroke events, as well as African records in the 50m and 100m butterfly.
Kathleen Genevieve Ledecky is an American competitive swimmer. She has won nine Olympic gold medals and 21 world championship gold medals, the most in history for a female swimmer. With 14 medals and 9 gold medals, she is also the most decorated American woman, most decorated female swimmer, the female with the most gold medals and fifth-most decorated athlete in Olympic history. She has won a record 16 individual gold medals at the World Aquatics Championships. Ledecky's eight individual medals at the Olympics and 26 overall medals at the World Aquatics Championships are records in women's swimming. Ledecky is the world record holder in the women's 800- and 1500-meter freestyle, as well as the former world record holder in the women's 400-meter freestyle. She also holds the fastest-ever times in the women's 500-, 1000-, and 1650-yard freestyle events. She is widely regarded as the greatest female swimmer of all time and one of the greatest Olympians of all time.
Katrina Diane Radke Gerry is a former competitive swimmer who represented the United States at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea.
Adam George Peaty is an English competitive swimmer who specialises in the breaststroke. He won the gold medal in the 100 metre breaststroke at the 2016 Summer Olympics, the first by a male British swimmer in 24 years, and retained the title at the 2020 Summer Olympics in 2021, the first British swimmer ever to retain an Olympic title.
Bhakti Sharma is an Indian Open water swimmer.
Caeleb Remel Dressel is an American competitive swimmer who specializes in freestyle, butterfly, and individual medley events. He swims representing the Cali Condors as part of the International Swimming League. He won a record seven gold medals at the 2017 World Aquatics Championships in Budapest, nine medals, six of which were gold, at the 2018 World Swimming Championships in Hangzhou, and eight medals, including six gold, at the 2019 World Aquatics Championships in Gwangju. Dressel is a nine-time Olympic gold medalist and holds world records in the 100 meter butterfly, 50 meter freestyle, and 100 meter individual medley.
Michael Charles Andrew is an American competitive swimmer and an Olympic gold medalist. He was the 2016 world champion in the 100 meter individual medley. At his first Olympic Games, the 2020 Summer Olympics, he won a gold medal and set a world record as part of the 4x100 meter medley relay, placed fourth in the 100 meter breaststroke, fourth in the 50 meter freestyle, and fifth in the 200 meter individual medley. Andrew's swims in 2021 at the 2020 Olympics made him the first swimmer to represent the United States at an Olympic Games in an individual breaststroke event as well as another individual event other than an individual medley in the then-125-year-history of swimming at the Summer Olympics. He has won 78 medals at Swimming World Cup circuits.
Sarah Thomas is an American marathon swimmer. She is the first person to complete four consecutive crossings of the English Channel and the first person to swim a current-neutral swim over 100 miles. She holds the world record for longest, second-, and third-longest current-neutral swims, and various other records in both fresh and salt water categories.
Summer Ann McIntosh is a Canadian competitive swimmer. She is a three-time Olympic champion, four-time World Aquatics champion, and two-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist. Noted for her strength in medley and butterfly events, she is the current world record holder in the 400 metre individual medley, and also holds the Olympic and textile records in the 200 metre butterfly event, and the Olympic record in the 200 metre individual medley.