In 1926: living at the edge of time - Monoskop

88 ARRAYS
had to battle strong currents. Mrs. Cannon, a Danish-born American, is
twenty-seven and a mother of two. After her arrival in Dover, she said
to a representative of the press: 'I had decided either to succeed or to
drown. I have to make money for my children.' Mrs. Cannon has been
a professional swimmer since she was sixteen. She has already won a
number of major competitions in America" (August 29; Anneesmemoire,
46). On August 28, at 3:10 P.M., a few hours before Cannon's
arrival on the British coast, three more swimmers, among them another
American woman, set off independently to cross the Channel: "Three
swimmers are taking advantage of favorable weather conditions to cross
the Channel. The Egyptian Helmi started shortly before 11:00 last night,
the Englishman Frank Perks around 11:20, and the American Carson
shortly before midnight. Helmi gave up after only three hours and returned
to Boulogne on the steamboat that was monitoring the crossing."
Julian Carson, who takes seventeen minutes longer than Cannon and
fifty-seven minutes longer than Ederle, is for a short time the third-fastest
Channel-swimmer in history. Only two days later, however, the world
record reverts to a man, when Ernst Vierkotter of Germany sets a new
mark of twelve hours forty-two minutes. And this record will be broken
in turn on September 11 by Georges Michel of France, with the almost
incredible time of eleven hours six minutes.
The act of swimming the English Channel stages the human body in
a struggle with the elements. Since an athlete's performance pushes the
human body to the limits of its endurance, athletic feats can often be
experienced as confrontations with death. "To succeed or drown" is the
motto of all Channel swimmers. [see Immanence = Transcendence
(Death)] Pointing to the need "to make money for my children," however,
Clemington Cannon's words also show that the dramatic alternative
between life (success) and death (drowning) is more than just an
allegory for the hardships of human existence in general. Under such
extreme physical and mental stress, the traditional hierarchy between
male bodies and female bodies tends to vanish. [see Dancing, Male =
Female (Gender Trouble)] On October 5, two months after the first
successful crossing of the Channel by a female athlete, Violet Pierceu of
France becomes the first woman to run a full marathon (twenty-six
miles) against the clock (Chronik, 175). Those human bodies which
successfully brave the elements and test their strength to the limit are
often perceived as shining surfaces. Indeed, Channel swimmers protect