Based on the book by Glenn Stout, look for the Disney+ Production to be released in 2023.
Gertrude Ederle was the daughter of German immigrants. They settled in Manhattan, where Henry Ederle ran a butcher shop. “Trudy” (what most people called her) developed a love for the water, and her dad taught her how to swim in Highlands, New Jersey.
Ederle took lessons and trained at the Women’s Swimming Association (WSA), paying three dollars to swim in tiny Manhattan indoor pools. Over time, Ederle became one of the world’s best competitive swimmers. At the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris, Ederle won a gold medal for the U.S. in the 4×100-meter freestyle relay. But the feat for which she is best known was yet to come.
Photo courtesy Sports Illustrated
Trudy had always wanted to swim the English Channel. The Women’s Swimming Association sponsored Helen Wainwright and Ederle to make the swim, and Trudy hired a coach, Jabez Wolffe, who tried twenty-two times herself to make that swim.
The trick, Wolffe told Eberle, was to slow the pace because swimming faster won’t get the prize. But working with Wolffe didn’t go well, and the situation culmination in August 1925 when Ederle was disqualified after Wolffe ordered another swimmer to recover her from the water.
Trudy declared that she was not in trouble; she was conserving her energy. Wolffe said she didn’t think any woman could swim the Channel, but some people felt Wolffe didn’t want Ederele to succeed.
Undeterred by Wolffe’s intransigence, Ederle hired another swimming coach, Bill Burgess, who had successfully swum the Channel over a decade earlier. Ederle learned an important tactic from Burgess, who used motorcycle goggles during his Channel swim to protect his eyes from the salty water.
The relationship with Burgess and using his tactic worked. A year after being retrieved from the water, Ederle’s dream became a reality. In August 1926, Ederle came ashore, swimming the 26 miles with a time of 14 hours and 34 minutes–the first woman ever to make the swim.
Ederle was greeted with a ticker-tape parade upon return to the States as two million-plus fans lined the streets.
Gertrude Ederle’s story has been told many times in print, and now it will be told Hollywood-style. Jerry Bruckheimer will produce Young Woman and The Sea, with Daisy Ridley playing Ederle. Based on the book written by Glenn Stout, look for the Paramount/Walt Disney Production in 2023.
