Diane Struble in 1959. How Times Have Changed In The Open Water
In the Philadelphia Inquirer on August 16th 1959, it was reported that a 26-year-old mother of 3 children (ages 3, 5 and 6) completed a 11 hour 27 minute circumnavigation swim around Manhattan Island.
The article reported that the Diane Struble “was dissuaded from trying a second round trip and a crowd of 1,000 cheered Struble as she stepped ashore.” She later said, “I feel I could go around again, but they won’t let me” as she swam breaststroke most of the way.
The brief article from 1959 was a bit surprising for a few reasons:
- There are few contemporary 26-year-old single mothers with three children who are active marathon swimmers.
- Multiple Manhattan Island circumnavigation swims are now routinely attempted and completed a la Julie Ridge‘s double in 1983, Stacy Chanin‘s triple in 1984, and Jaimie Monahan‘s quadruple in 2020.
- Although there have been exceptions (namely, Marcos Díaz in 2007), a crowd of 1,000 cheering for a marathon swimmer at the finish in Manhattan Island is rare.
- Breaststroke marathon swims are rare (but they are achieved every so often a la Alan Jay Morrison).
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Southern California native, born 1962, is the creator of the WOWSA Awards, Oceans Seven, Openwaterpedia, Citrus Corps, World Open Water Swimming Association, Daily News of Open Water Swimming, Global Open Water Swimming Conference. He is Chief Executive Officer of KAATSU Global and KAATSU Research Institute. Inductee in the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame (Honor Swimmer, Class of 2001) and Ice Swimming Hall of Fame (Honor Contributor - Media, Class of 2019), recipient of the International Swimming Hall of Fame's Poseidon Award (2016), International Swimming Hall of Fame's Irving Davids-Captain Roger Wheeler Memorial Award (2010), USA Swimming's Glen S. Hummer Award (2007, 2010) and Harvard University's John B. Imrie Award (1984). Served on the FINA Technical Open Water Swimming Committee and as Technical Delegate with the 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games, and 9-time USA Swimming coaching staff. Note: WOWSA only recommends products or services used or recommended by the community. WOWSA does not receive compensation for links or products mentioned on this site or in blog posts. If it does, it will be indicated clearly on that specific post. See WOWSA's privacy policy for more information.
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