Florence Chadwick was born Nov. 9, 1917. She was from San Diego, California. She won her first race when she was 10 years old. She challenged senior swimmers for a two-and-a-half-mile rough water swim, and finished in 4^th place. When she was 11 she won her first race in a six-mile rough water swim in San Diego. She raced for 19 years all over the U.S.

In 1945 she and her teammate, swimmer Esther Williams, performed in the movie Bathing Beauty. In 1948 she began training to swim the English Channel. After 2 years she became the 1^st woman to swim the Channel in both directions. She retired from swimming in 1960 and was selected to be a member of the Swimming Hall of Fame in 1970. She worked as a stockbroker in San Diego and gave her time to groups that worked with children. Florence Chadwick died on March 15, 1995.

2000, by Huzaifah, third grade