"I just did the best I could, and I never thought of winning. I guess I swim as easily as I breathe or walk. And I truly think it ought to be just as natural for everybody. The scientists say we were all water animals to begin with, then why shouldn't we go back, now and then, to our first home - the ocean?" - Trudy Ederle, 1926 swimming champion and first woman to swim the English Channel
It speaks to the power of passion and self-control that this mostly-deaf woman could develop into one of America's first female sports celebrities. Not through ego, or the will to be the best, but to do her best. And to do what she loved, with the enthusiasm that burned easily for hour upon hour of practice, until fate led her to inspire the nation.
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