Learn More About Marilyn Bell

“When the CNE offered American swimmer Florence Chadwick $10,000 to swim across Lake Ontario in 1954, 17-year-old Marilyn Bell from Toronto decided she would do the swim herself, and for free.

This is her story

Marilyn Bell was born on Oct. 19, 1937 in Toronto. The family moved during her early childhood, before settling back in Toronto in 1946.

That year, Bell began taking up swimming lessons at Oakwood Pool.

In 1947, she entered a one-mile swim contest at the CNE.

She continued to train and in July 1954, Bell swam in the 26-mile Centennial Marathon in Atlantic City. She finished first among women competitors, and won $1,150.

This marathon swim would be a great training ground for what happened two months later.

On Sept. 8, 1954, the CNE offered Florence Chadwick $10,000 to swim across the lake as a publicity effort for the CNE.

Due to this criticism over Chadwick being American, the CNE allowed other swimmers to do the first part of the swim as a relay race.

Bell decided that she was going to do the entire swim herself. A third swimmer, Winnie Roach, also decided to swim the lake. After several hours, Chadwick pulled out of the race due to stomach cramps and vomiting. Roach also had to quit the race.

Bell dealt with high waves and lamprey eels attacking her legs.

She kept going and after 20 hours and 59 minutes, she reached the shore near the CNE grounds. When she arrived at shore, 250,000 people gathered to greet her. They had been following her swim on the radio.

She became the first person to swim the 72 km distance across the lake. The CNE gave her the $10,000 prize. She became instantly famous and was presented with many gifts including a television, a car, clothing and furniture. She also appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show.

She was also named the Canadian Newsmaker of the Year and was awarded both the Lou Marsh Trophy as Canada’s athlete of the year, and was named the Canadian female athlete of the year. In 1955, she was paid $15,000 to swim the English Channel.

She swam the Channel in 14 hours and 36 minutes. She was the youngest person to succeed in the crossing. When she returned to Toronto, she was given a ticker-tape parade and a crowd of 100,000 came out to cheer her.

In 1956, she swam the Strait of Juan de Fuca off the Pacific Coast.

Bell retired from swimming in 2003 due to a back injury and scoliosis. She returned to swimming at her retirement home in 2016 thanks to a change in her swimming style that put less strain on her spine.

She is a member of Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame and the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame. In 2005, her swim was designated as a National Historic Event. The location where she arrived on her swim is now the Marilyn Bell Park. A ferry boat on the lake is named for her.”

From Facebook Canadian History EHX

More About Marilyn Bell

Marilyn Grace Bell Di Lascio OOnt (born October 19, 1937) is a retired Canadian long-distance swimmer best known for her historic achievements in open water swimming. She became the first individual to successfully swim across Lake Ontario and later completed notable crossings of both the English Channel and the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

Marilyn Bell was born in Toronto, Ontario, to parents Sydney and Grace Bell. During her early years, the family relocated multiple times, living in North Bay, Ontario, and Halifax, Nova Scotia, before returning to Toronto in 1946.

In 1946, Bell began swimming lessons at Oakwood Pool and became a member of the Dolphinette Club, where she trained under coach Alex Duff. The following year, in 1947, she participated in her first long-distance competition—a one-mile swim held at the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) in Lake Ontario. It was during this event that she met Gus Ryder, the coach of the Lakeshore Swimming Club, who would later become her coach. Bell soon joined the Lakeshore Club and began training at the indoor pool at Humberside Collegiate in Toronto.

In July 1954, Bell competed in the Centennial Marathon in Atlantic City, New Jersey, a 26-mile swim around Absecon Island in the Atlantic Ocean. She was the top female finisher and placed seventh overall, earning $1,150 in prize money. Her club teammates, Tom Park and Cliff Lumsden, took first and second place overall.

After retiring from competitive swimming, Bell married Joe Di Lascio and settled in New Jersey, USA. The couple had four children—Lisa, Michael, Jodi, and Janet—who reportedly grew up unaware of their mother’s celebrated past. Bell later pursued higher education, earning a bachelor’s degree, and became a U.S. citizen. She went on to work as a teacher for more than 20 years. Following Joe’s passing in September 2007, Bell eventually moved to New Paltz, New York.

Health challenges, including scoliosis and a back injury, led her to stop swimming in the early 2000s, and she began using a motorized chair for mobility. However, in 2016, she returned to the pool at her retirement community. With the help of swim coach Terry Laughlin, she adopted a new swimming technique that eased pressure on her spine, allowing her to swim again comfortably.

In 1954, Marilyn Bell received several major accolades for her accomplishments. She was named Canadian Newsmaker of the Year by The Canadian Press, won the Lou Marsh Trophy as Canada’s top athlete, and was also honored with the Bobbie Rosenfeld Award, recognizing her as the country’s leading female athlete. Her legacy was further cemented in 1958 with her induction into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame. Years later, she was also inducted into the Canadian Swimming Hall of Fame in 1993 and recognized as one of Canada’s greatest athletes of the 20th century. In 1997, she was welcomed into the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame.

In 2003, Bell, by then known as Marilyn Bell Di Lascio, was awarded the Order of Ontario, one of the province’s highest civilian honors. Her historic swim across Lake Ontario was officially recognized as a National Historic Event by the National Historic Sites and Monuments Board in 2005, with a commemorative plaque installed in 2008 near where she came ashore. Another plaque can be found at the base of a lion statue along Lake Shore Boulevard near the CNE’s Ontario Government Building. Her achievement in swimming the Strait of Juan de Fuca is also honored with a plaque at her landing site in Beacon Hill Park.

A park near her Lake Ontario landing site has been named Marilyn Bell Park in her honor. In 2009, the Lakeshore Swimming Club in Toronto organized the first Marilyn Bell Swim Classic, an event sanctioned by Swim Ontario. The following year, a ferry serving the Toronto Island Airport was named Marilyn Bell 1, chosen as the winning entry in a naming contest run by the Toronto Port Authority.

Her inspiring journey was brought to the screen in the 2001 television movie Heart: The Marilyn Bell Story, with actress Caroline Dhavernas portraying Bell.