Nickname(s) Linda Carol McGill National team Australia | Name Linda McGill | |
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Born 17 December 1945 (age 78) ( 1945-12-17 ) Strokes | ||
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.
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. In 1964, she was banned by amateur swimming authorities for alleged misbehavior at the Tokyo Olympic Games.
She became a long distance swimmer, becoming the first Australian to swim the English Channel in 1965, swimming topless and posing topless for press photographs after the swim. On this swim, she missed setting a then-world women's record by just 11 minutes. 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. In 1967, she beat the record with a time of just under 10 hours. In 1976, swimming topless, she became the first person ever to swim around Hong Kong Island, accomplishing this in 17 hours.