On the Queen Mary in Long Beach, California, there is going to be quite an intermingling of heroes and heroines from 19 different countries in the open water swimming world.

From Olympic champions and world champions to channel record holders and professional marathon swimming champions, over 60 years of victories and success will be well-represented during the Global Open Water Swimming Conference.

Imagine the generation and gender clash when Greta Andersen, the fastest female marathon swimmer of the 1950s and 1960s, meets Penny Dean, the fastest female marathon swimmer of the 1970s, Shelley Taylor-Smith, the fastest female professional marathon swimmer of the 1980s and 1990s, and Pilar Geijo, the fastest female professional ultra-marathon swimmer of the 21st century…as Ous Mellouli (shown above), the 2012 Olympic 10K Marathon Swim gold medalist stands by and Trent Grimsey (shown below), the English Channel record holder and Larisa Ilchenko, the 2008 Olympic 10K Marathon Swim gold medalist, are interviewed via Skype?

That is a whole lot of fast swimming DNA in one room.

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