Image show Africans swimming freestyle across rapids during the 1884 Nile Expedition. Courtesy of Illustrated London News, 4 October 1884. In his essay about African swimmers in ‘Enslaved Swimmers and Divers in the Atlantic World’ included in the March 2006 issue of The Journal of American History, Professor Kevin Dawson wrote, “…Having learned to swim […]

Courtesy of Deadspin, University of Southern California. 2012 Olympic 10K marathon swimming silver medalist Haley Anderson was named on the Athletes Advisory Commission for the Los Angeles bid for the 2024 and 2028 Olympic Games in May 2017. So she will retain her Olympic ties at least to the 2028 Summer Olympics, and possibly beyond.

Courtesy of WOWSA, Rottnest Channel, Western Australia. Today, Solomon Wright broke the long-time held record in the 19.7 km Rottnest Channel Swim. The 19-year-old Australian swimmer from the Gold Coast has been recently poking around the highest echelons of open water swimming and put everything together despite less-than-ideal conditions off the coast off Western Australia.

Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California. Patricia Mitchell was a well-regarded, much-loved swimming coach and mentor in Southern California who recently unexpectedly passed away. The former age group, collegiate and open water swimmer coached in the same neighborhoods she grew up in for decades. Lady P, as she was known, coached and constantly fought against

Courtesy of Eli Bryon, Cottesloe Beach, Australia. Eli Ball is a barrister and an Australian open water swimmer who completed history’s second butterfly crossing* of the 19.7 km Rottnest Channel in Western Australia in 7 hours 20 minutes 29 seconds. The butterfly specialist is a Rotto Everyday Hero who supported the Leukaemia Foundation during this

Courtesy of Ger Kennedy, M Street Beach, Boston, Massachusett. When Stephen Redmond traveled to northern Japan to achieve history’s first Oceans Seven, the former Irish rugby player was faced with eating foods that he was completely unfamiliar with: seaweed, squid, boiled marine life, urchin, tofu and raw eggs on white rice. So he ended up

Courtesy of Vasanti Niemz, Cook Strait, New Zealand. Abhejali Bernardová is a runner-turned-swimmer and member of the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team from Zlin, Czech Republic. She became the 10th person in history to complete the Oceans Seven channels. In addition to achieving the Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming, five International Self-Transcendence Marathon-Schwimmens, and completing

Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California. The greatest swimmer and Hollywood icon Johnny Weissmuller was born in the Banat area of Serbia. The birthplace of the dual inductee in the International Swimming Hall of Fame and the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame is located close to the location of the 1.5 km and 3