Ida Elionsky 1916 swim around Manhattan
evmo
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This discussion was created from comments split from: Nyad lies about being the first woman to swim around Manhattan... again.
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Hello! I am Ida Elionsky's granddaughter and very interested in this thread. When Diana originally posted her Facebook message, I reached out to her, offering information about my grandmother and her brother, both of whom swam around Manhattan (tied together!) as well as many other notable swims. Her publicist was enthusiastic, but I never heard back.
I have also tried to get my grandmother's name listed in the Swimmer's Hall of Fame. Even though I sent several articles and corresponding personal artifacts, they have yet to include her. Perhaps you, more involved in the sport than I, have some ideas as to what is happening? I'd appreciate your thoughts.
You might like to know my grandmother swam for enjoyment almost until she died. Yes, she would go off for miles and, yes, she had some beautiful strokes. If any of you would be interested in her and her brother's story, I will be happy to share whatever I can. Thanks!
How exciting!
I imagine I speak for, well, pretty much everybody when I say: Yes, please! :-)
I echo @JenA's words when I say YES, PLEASE!!!
We're all just carbon, water, starlight, oxygen and dreams
How lovely to hear so many of you are interested! My grandmother basically started swimming because her brother, Henry (Buster) Elion, needed a partner in his swimming stunts. Tied together, they swam handicap swimming stunts for movies and live performances. It was my grand Uncle's theory that swimming is something everyone can do and, I suppose, he dragged his young sister around (sometimes, in the water, literally) to prove the point. When she was 16, she swam the waters of Hell's Gate in New York with her hands and feet bound. The next year, she swam three miles down the Hudson with her brother tied to her back, beginning at 59th Street and finishing at Houston Street. Reports are she did this in a heavy gale which, combined with the tides, made the swim even more challenging. But the swim that made the record books took place on September 24, 1916. Tied together, Ida and Henry swam around Manhattan, covering 40 miles in 11hours and 35 minutes. No woman had ever swum around Manhattan before. Because birth records were not kept as carefully then as they are now, we never truly knew my grandmother's birthday. The agreed upon answer is that she was born on June 6, 1903. In any case, she was remarkably young when she set a world record.
Sadly, my grandmother did not like to talk about her swimming accomplishments, believing girls should not boast of athletic skills. She differed to her brother, who was far more anxious to be in the spotlight, eventually making friends and swimming with Buster Crabbe, the Olympian and movie star. She did, however, share a few tidbits, remembering climbing up piers to find big rats scurrying. She was so frightened she scurried herself, back in the water. When Diana Nyad swam around Manhattan in 1975, our family tried to get my grandmother to correct the story that Diana was the first to accomplish that swim. She refused.
She did, however, swim long distances the rest of her life. Living in New London, Connecticut, she would often tell others at the beach "I think I'm going to go out for a swim". She would them casually swim out to the local lighthouse, Ledge, which is located at the mouth of the Thames River. She would (eventually) come back, laughing at how the lighthouse keepers were surprised when she swam by.
There is a detailed article about the legendary swim here www.dailynews.openwaterswimming.com
Interestingly, the story was posted this past September 1. There seems to be a recurrence of interest about my grandmother, which is very nice. I'm not sure how this all happened, but maybe now we can get the Swimmer's Hall of Fame to recognize her and her brother's accomplishment.![]()
@Joanna
Thanks for sharing your fun family story.
It's great to keep the stories alive.
I have similar family story, though in boxing, and thankfully my grandfather was always willing to tell stories of his father's bouts and history.
Regarding Hall of Fame recognition, there's a simple nomination process that you can submit for ballot consideration, at least for the IMSHOF (International Marathon Swimming HOF), with which I'm more familiar.
Just go to the website and follow the links to the nomination process.
I'm curious, how did you find your way here to the MSF forum and this specific thread?
Dan
Possible to start a separate thread for Joanna's family's story -- very nice; thank you! -- rather than burying it in a thread titled "Nyad lies ..."?
Hi Dan, thanks! I am in touch with the IMSHOF and they have been lovely! I found the article on a standard Google search. Funny how this story is in the air (or should I say sea?) after all these years.
This makes me so happy. Looking forward to hearing more and celebrating your grandmother's accomplishments!
I LOVE this thread! And it illustrates what fascinates me about women's swimming history. After the 1928 Olympics, women were assumed to too weak to handle the 800m run because, like their male counterparts, some of them collapsed on the track upon finishing. (Um....having attended my share of track meets, I notice that wasn't unique to women.)
Yet there are enough instances of women swimmers at that time and earlier who gave the lie to that myth that women were too weak. Did the track and field folks not pay attention to what women were accomplishing in swimming? I guess not, but some of those swims seem as if they'd be pretty hard to ignore.
The myth is still alive around the world, @dpm50, as evidenced by what my friend Sarah was told during her Issyk Kul swim.
We're all just carbon, water, starlight, oxygen and dreams
Women still cannot swim the 1500 at the Olympics.
. It doesn't exist as an event for women.
I find that so odd when the 10k swim is available for women. It's somewhat akin to what happened in track--the marathon was opened to women before the 5k. Go figure!