Linda McGill

Linda Carol McGill (born 17 December 1945), also known by her married name Linda Kruk, is an Australian former competition swimmer noted both for achievements at the Commonwealth Games and in long-distance swimming. At age 29, McGill set a record for the fastest and only swim around Hong Kong Island which stood for over 40 years, and still holds the record for the fastest swim in a counterclockwise direction.[1]

Linda McGill
Personal information
Nickname(s)Linda Carol McGill
National teamAustralia
Born (1945-12-17) 17 December 1945
Sport
SportSwimming
StrokesBreaststroke, butterfly, medley

Career

At the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games, McGill won the bronze medal in the women's 110-yard butterfly, the silver medal in the women's 440-yard individual medley, and the gold medal in the 4×110-yard medley relay.[2] In 1964, she was banned by amateur swimming authorities for four years for alleged misbehavior at the Tokyo Olympic Games.[3][4]

In 1965, McGill moved to London on a working holiday visa. During the northern hemisphere summer of 1965, she accepted a dare to swim the English Channel. Although she had represented her country as an Olympic swimmer the year before, she specialized in fairly short distances and had never swum more than one kilometer at a time before--the Channel, by contrast, is 35 km. Officials of the English Channel Association were appalled to learn that she was about to attempt the Channel swim with only a few weeks lunchtime training and no long distance or cold water experience. McGill, however, decided to go ahead with the swim, feeling in part that success might help vindicate her earlier ban from Olympic swimming.[4] She completed the long distance swim, becoming the first Australian to swim the English Channel on 7 August 1965,[3] swimming topless and posing topless for press photographs after the swim.[4] On this swim, she finished in 11 hours, 12 minutes and missed setting a then-world women's record by just 11 minutes.[5][6]

In an effort to beat the record, she formally petitioned for and was granted permission from the Channel Swimming Association to swim topless, in order to prevent the straps of her swimming costume from cutting into her shoulders, as they had done on previous long swims.[7][8] In 1967, she beat the record with a time of just under 10 hours.[3] On 23 May 1976, swimming topless most of the way, she became the first person ever to swim around Hong Kong Island, accomplishing this in 17 hours, 6 minutes. The swim, in a counterclockwise direction, was sponsored by Cathay Pacific and began and ended in Repulse Bay. McGill faced difficulties including jellyfish stings, pollution, objects in the water, ships, and inclement weather. Starting five miles into her swim, she took off her bikini top and went topless to avoid chafing. Although official records aren't kept for Hong Kong swims, this swim established an unofficial record for either gender that stood for over 40 years. McGill's record was beaten on 11 November 2017 by Simon Holliday, who swam the distance in 12 hours, 32 minutes.[9][10][11][12][13]

References
  1. "Around Hong Kong swims | LongSwims Database". Marathon Swimmers Federation. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
  2. "1962 Australian Team and Results" (PDF). Commonwealth Games Australia. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 February 2014. Retrieved 12 January 2014.
  3. "McGill, Linda". The Australian Women's Register. Retrieved 12 January 2014.
  4. McGill, Linda (2007). Surviving the Sea of Life: The triumphs and tragedies of an Australian Olympian. New Holland. ISBN 1741105285.
  5. "Linda McGill | LongSwims Database". Marathon Swimmers Federation. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
  6. "Channel Swim Easy for Linda McGill". The Tuscaloosa News. Retrieved 12 January 2014.
  7. "Swimmer in Channel Topless" (PDF). Watertown Daily Times. Retrieved 17 March 2014.
  8. "Topless Swimmer". Montreal Gazette. Retrieved 17 March 2014.
  9. "Linda swims around Hong Kong". The Age. Retrieved 12 January 2014.
  10. Wood, Chris (4 November 2017). "1976, and a topless Australian is first to swim around Hong Kong Island". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 13 December 2017.
  11. Blundy, Rachel (19 August 2017). "Expat eyeing record for swimming around Hon<g Kong Island wants to make splash for charity". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 13 December 2017.
  12. McNicol, Andrew (11 November 2017). "Two years in the planning ... five months of training ... 12 hours and 32 minutes of exhaustion ... then victory". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 13 December 2017.
  13. Fitzgerald, Quinn (November 2017). "Simon Holliday Replicates Linda McGill Round Hong Kong - WOWSA". World Open Water Swimming Association. Retrieved 8 June 2020.


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