Young Woman and the Sea: What happened to Gertrude Ederle after her victory? Legacy, family, and more explored

Young Woman and the Sea is a biographical film based on American swimmer Gertrude Ederle, who achieved the feat of swimming across the English Channel. This was considered the toughest challenge for a male swimmer in those days, and impossible for a female swimmer. But Gertrude Ederle proved the world wrong.

Young Woman and the Sea captures her hard work and resistance through which she first became a national champion, then an Olympic medal winner, and then swam across the unforgiving waves of the English Channel.

However, her life beyond these achievements, which she accomplished by the young age of 21, is no less dramatic. The queen of the waves starred in a Hollywood film, was bedridden for several years, and completely lost her ability to hear in her 40s. But despite every curve ball life threw at her, she hit it for a homerun and lived till 98.

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Gertrude Ederle starred in a movie as herself

Young Woman and the Sea is based on the 2009 book by Glenn Stout and directed by Joachim Rønning. Star Wars fame Daisy Ridley plays the role of the legendary swimmer Gertrude Ederle, who was nicknamed Trudy.

However, this is not the first film that Gertrude Ederle's character has been portrayed in a film. Interestingly, one year after crossing the English Channel successfully, she starred in a film called Swim Girl, Swim as herself. The romantic comedy film was directed by Clarence Badger and starred Bebe Daniels and James Hall in lead roles.

There is no information about this 1927 movie, as it is among the thousands of unfortunate pieces of cinema that have been lost forever. What we do know is that Gertrude Ederle makes a guest appearance as herself in it.

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Gertrude Ederle taught swimming to deaf children

Gertrude Ederle's life after the events of Young Woman and the Sea was quite dramatic. As the world was moving from one World War to another, in between came The Great Depression, which devastated people's lives. Trudy was also financially affected by this.

In between this financial crisis, she fell from the stairs and twisted her spine, which made the champion swimmer bedridden for several years. To make things worse, she completely lost her ability to hear in her 40s. She later became a swim teacher for deaf children.

Despite all the problems, Trudy fought through life as she fought the waves. She was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame as an "Honor Swimmer" in 1965 and the National Women's Hall of Fame in 2003. She died the same year at 98.

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Young Woman and the Sea cast explored

Young Woman and the Sea is led by the talented Daisy Ridley in the role of Trudy. She became popular as Rey in the Star Wars franchise. Most of the other important characters in the film are either Trudy's close family members or instructors.

Other important actors in the film are Christopher Eccleston, Stephen Graham, Kim Bodnia, and Tilda Cobham-Hervey.

The full cast list of Young Woman and the Sea

• Daisy Ridley as Gertrude "Trudy" Ederle
• Olive Abercrombie as Young Trudy Ederle
• Christopher Eccleston as Jabez Wolffe
• Stephen Graham as Bill Burgess
• Tilda Cobham-Hervey as Margaret "Meg" Ederle
• Lilly Aspell as Young Meg
• Kim Bodnia as Henry Ederle
• Jeanette Hain as Gertrude Anna Ederle
• Glenn Fleshler as James Sullivan
• Sian Clifford as Charlotte
• Ethan Rouse as Henry Jr.
• Raphael J. Bishop as Young Henry Jr.
• Alex Hassell as Herry Horlick
• Alexander Karim as Benji Zammit
• Sebestian Griegal as Horst
• Doc Butler as Uncle Elderle
• Yordan Angelov as Karl Durshley
• Robert Eades as Johnny Weissmuller

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Young Woman and the Sea was released in the United States on May 31, 2024, and is currently streaming on Disney+.