Swimming and Diving Sports Oddities and Trivia

Some random facts and trivia about the sports swimming and diving.

A MINI-ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SPORTS ODDITIES

SWIMMING AND DIVING

Charles Zibbleman swam for 168 consecutive hours in a pool in Honolulu in 1941. Three years earlier he swam the Hudson River from Albany to New York City, a distance of 147 mi., to set the distance record for handicapped swimmers. Zibbleman has no legs.

Diver Henri LeMothe was wired by General Motors technicians before making a dozen dives from a height of 40 ft. into a pool of water 14 in. deep in order to measure "how the body absorbs forceful blows, such as those occurring in an auto crash." LeMothe was 71 at the time. The year before, he had won a place in the Guinness Book of World Records by jumping off a 40-ft. platform into 12 1/4 in. of water. "I use my stomach like a karate chop," explained the 5 ft. 7 in., 135-lb. diver.