CAPTAIN MATTHEW WEBB

In 1873, Webb was serving as captain of the steamship Emerald when he read an account of the failed
attempt by J. B. Johnson to swim the English Channel. He became inspired to try, and left his job to
begin training, first at Lambeth Baths, then in the cold waters of the Thames, the English Channel
and Hollingworth Lake. His early training was backed by Fred Beckwith who was the "Professor" at
Lambeth Baths. Beckwith organised a spectacle by showing Webb swimming miles in the River Thames.
Webb completed ‘nearly six miles’, but the poor public interest meant that Beckwith lost money. As a
result, Webb took another manager.

On 12 August 1875, he made his first cross-Channel swimming attempt, but strong winds and poor sea
conditions forced him to abandon the swim. On 24 August, he began a second swim by diving in from
the Admiralty Pier at Dover. Backed by three escort boats and smeared in porpoise oil, he set off into
the ebb tide at a steady breaststroke. Despite stings from jellyfish and strong currents off Cap Gris
Nez which prevented him from reaching the shore for five hours, finally, after approximately 21 hours
and 40 minutes, he landed near Calais—the first successful cross-channel swim. His zig-zag course across
the Channel was nearly 40 miles (66 km) long.

After his record swim, Captain Webb basked in national and international adulation, and followed a
career as a professional swimmer. He wrote a book called The Art of Swimming and licensed his name
for merchandising such as commemorative pottery. A brand of matches was named after him. He
participated in exhibition swimming matches and stunts such as floating in a tank of water for 128
hours.
 IAN THORPE
(born 13 October 1982) is an Australian retired swimmer who specialised in freestyle, but also competed
in backstroke and the individual medley. He has won five Olympic gold medals, the most won by any
Australian. With three gold and two silver medals, Thorpe was the most successful athlete at the 2000
Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia.

At the age of 14, Thorpe became the youngest male ever to represent Australia, and his victory in
the 400 metre freestyle at the 1998 Perth World Championships made him the youngest-ever individual
male World Champion. After that victory, Thorpe dominated the 400 m freestyle, winning the event at
every Olympic, World, Commonwealth and Pan Pacific Swimming Championships until his break after
the 2004 Olympics in Athens. At the 2001 World Aquatics Championships, he became the first person to
win six gold medals in one World Championship. Aside from 13 individual long-course world records,
Thorpe anchored the Australian relay teams, numbering the victories in the 4 × 100 m and the 4 × 200 m
freestyle relays in Sydney among his five relay world records. His wins in the 200 m and 400 m and his
bronze in the 100 m freestyle at the 2004 Summer Olympics made him the only male to have won
medals in the 100–200–400 combination. He picked up the nickname "Thorpedo" because of his speed
in swimming. Thorpe announced his retirement from competitive swimming in November 2006, citing
waning motivation; he made a brief comeback in 2011 and 2012.

In total, Thorpe has won eleven World Championship gold medals; this is the third-highest number of
gold medals won by any swimmer. Thorpe was the first person to have been named Swimming
World Swimmer of the Year four times, and was the Australian Swimmer of the Year from 1999 to 2003.
His athletic achievements made him one of Australia's most popular athletes, and he was recognised as
the Young Australian of the Year in 2000.