The inspirational story of Mercedes Gleitze, the first British woman to swim the English Channel and her battle against | dG1fbVZfT1c4MmNONjQ
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:02 We are not turning back.
00:04 She'll never make it.
00:05 She has to try.
00:06 Ever since I was a girl, I've had a longing for the water.
00:16 To swim, for me, is like nothing else in the world.
00:20 My name is Mercedes Gleitz.
00:25 I'm a swimmer, and I'm told you might train me.
00:29 Cold, extreme fatigue, it's best if the strongest of men.
00:34 Well, thank God I'm a woman.
00:37 I understand the water, its movements, its rhythm.
00:40 And sometimes I fancy it understands me, too.
00:45 What if I don't make it?
00:46 I'll wager you can arrive at 1,000 reasons why you won't.
00:51 All you have to do is hang on to the one that says you can.
00:55 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:58 Miss Gleitz will go down in history
01:07 as the first British woman to ever swim the English Channel.
01:13 Mrs. Edith Gade splashed onto the sand
01:15 following the shock completion of an English Channel swim.
01:18 This evening's honorable guests, please put their hands
01:21 together in vigorous applause for Miss Edith Gade.
01:25 I can assure you, that woman is not to be trusted.
01:29 In this country, Miss Gleitz, an unmarried woman at your age
01:33 raises suspicion.
01:34 Isn't it best you step aside now and avoid further humiliation?
01:39 I did swim the Channel.
01:40 I know you did, but they'll never believe you.
01:44 Show them what you know to be true,
01:50 that you can swim the English Channel.
01:53 Come on, girl.
01:54 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:58 Are you sure you want to carry on with all this?
02:06 There's no shame in quitting.
02:08 No, I'm not quitting.
02:10 I've got to make it.
02:12 I've got to.
02:12 [MUSIC PLAYING]
02:15 Faster!
02:16 [INAUDIBLE]
02:17 Let's see!
02:18 Faster!
02:19 Don't swim away!
02:20 Don't swim away!
02:21 [MUSIC PLAYING]
02:25 [WATER SPLASHING]
02:28 (water splashing)