Downstream

medals’. The fact that
American swimmer Rose
Pitonoff was also about to try
the Channel may have had
something to do with the tone
of the reports, with the New
York Times promising an
‘Anglo-American contest of a
novel kind’. But, sadly, Smith
was forced to abandon the
Channel after six hours, and
gave up again the following
year in a state of collapse
when her near ‘lifeless form’