Marilyn Bell (born 19 October 1937) is a long distance swimmer born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She was the first person to swim across Lake Ontario.
On 8 September 1954, Bell started her swim across Lake Ontario from Youngstown, New York to Toronto, Ontario at virtually the same time as world famous American long-distance swimmer, Florence Chadwick. The Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) in Toronto had offered Chadwick $10,000 to swim the lake as a publicity effort for the annual exhibition. Bell, who felt the offer snubbed Canadian swimmers, took on the challenge without pay.
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