Greta Andersen (born May 1, 1927) is a Danish swimmer and Olympic champion, later settled in Long Beach, California. She competed at the 1948 Olympic Games in London, where she received a gold medal in 100 m freestyle, and a silver medal in 4 × 100 m freestyle relay.
She won a total of nine individual Danish championships and four individual Scandinavian championships in her career.
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She swam the English Channel 6 times (the most by a woman) and holds the speed records for both the France-to-England swim (11 hours, 1 minute) and the England-to-France swim (13 hours, 10 minutes). She also holds the dubious honor of having spent the longest time in the water on a failed crossing attempt (23 hours).
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She excelled at sprint swimming as well as endurance swimming, setting world records in the 100 yard freestyle (58.2 seconds), the 10 mile open water (4 hours 25 minutes), the 25 mile open water (10 hours, 17 minutes), and the 50 mile open water.
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Inducted in the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1969 as an honored swimmer.
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Competing for Denmark, she won a gold medal in the 100 meter freestyle and a silver medal in the 4x100 meter freestyle relay at the 1948 Olympic Games in London. She finished 4th in the 4x100 meter freestyle relay and 8th in the 400 meter freestyle at the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki, using only one leg due to surgery.
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She won a gold medal in the 4x100 meter freestyle relay and a bronze medal in the 100 meter freestyle at the 1947 European Championships in Monaco. She won a gold medal in the 400 meter freestyle, a silver medal in the 4x100m freestyle relay, and a bronze medal in the 100 meter freestyle at the 1950 European Championships in Vienna.
$18 Million
