The Canada Atlas

Learn / People who shaped Canada

Marilyn Bell

Marathon swimmer · born 1937

Marilyn Bell
Vancouver Public Library Historical Photographs from Vancouver, Canada · No known copyright restrictions

Swam Lake Ontario at sixteen because the promoters had hired an American instead.

Follow this life on the map

Life story

  1. October 19, 1937 · Toronto
    Born in Toronto
  2. September 8, 1954 · New York
    Entered the water at Youngstown, New York, uninvited and unpaid
  3. September 9, 1954 · Toronto
    Came ashore at Toronto after nearly 21 hours and 52 kilometres
  4. July 31, 1955 · English Channel
    Swam the English Channel at seventeen, the youngest to do it at the time
  5. August 1956 · Strait of Juan de Fuca, British Columbia
    Swam the Strait of Juan de Fuca, then retired at eighteen

In the timeline

Sources