Downstream

visible is her white hat, and at
the end she’s surrounded by
cheering supporters, clearly
shattered but wearing her
trademark smile. No wonder
she was nicknamed the
‘Smiling Swimmer’, with the
press applauding her dogged
endurance and the ‘long,
persistent, lonely fight’
against the shifting currents
of the Channel. ‘I shall be all
right tomorrow,’ she asserted
the day after her swim, ‘and