marathon swimming

After getting kicked out of school for voicing opposition to the communist East German government, teens Hanna and Andreas hatch a plan to escape their country by swimming twenty-five hours across the Baltic Sea to democratic West Germany. In their quest for freedom, they will face icy waters, helicopter searches, stinging jellyfish, physical exhaustion, storms, and drowning.

Presents a chronicle of of fifty-two-year-old Martin Strel's record-breaking swim of 3,274 miles of the Amazon River, a feat that almost killed him as he fought off dehydration, exhaustion, piranhas, and more in an effort to call attention to issues of river pollution and deforestation.

Record-winning swimmer Penny Lee Dean discusses the different swimming techniques that are used in long-distance and marathon swimming; includes stretching exercises, practice drills, and endurance-building workouts.

Provides an account of efforts by four young American women athletes to swim across the English Channel in the summer of 1926, discussing the challenges they encountered in the water, the prejudices they faced as women in sports, and the very fleeting fame enjoyed by Gertrude Ederle who shattered the men's record on August 6, 1926.

Distance swimmer Lynne Cox describes the challenges of swimming across the English Channel, the Bering Strait, the Strait of Magellan, Cook Strait in New Zealand, and in the cold waters of the Antarctic.

Introduces ultra or long-distance swimming, exploring such key elements as training, safety, gear, and competition and profiling ultra swimmers, past and present.

Distance swimmer Lynne Cox describes her emotional and spiritual need to swim and about the mythical act of swimming itself, and chronicles some of her more memorable swims.