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USAUnited StatesSport:SwimmingPenny Lee Dean is an American marathon swimmer, coach and author whose career spans pool competition, ocean records and university sport. A six-time All-American at Pomona College, she graduated in 1977. Her open-water achievements included a Catalina Channel crossing in 1976 and a double crossing the following year.
On 29 July 1978, Dean completed the English Channel from England to France in 7 hours 40 minutes. The performance established an England-to-France speed record. In 1979 she became the women’s world professional marathon-swimming champion.
Dean later coached and taught at Pomona for 26 years. Her teams won 17 conference championships in women’s swimming and a national women’s water-polo title in 1993. She also coached American open-water swimmers and wrote books on marathon swimming and Catalina crossings. The International Swimming Hall of Fame inducted her in 1996.
The recorded nationality is United States.
1978 Channel speed record · 7 hours 40 minutes
Crossing details, recordings & verificationSolo swim
Saturday, 29 July 1978 (completion)
England → France
Elapsed time · 7h 40m
Start clock · Clock time not confirmed
Finish clock · Clock time not confirmed
Ratifying body's record checked · See the crossing record for qualifications and supporting evidence.
Open-water swimming · Solo swim
Wednesday, 1 September 1976 (event date)
Completed mainland → Catalina Island.
Elapsed time · 7h 15m 55s
Historical account checked · Details and qualifications are in the career evidence.
Open-water swimming · Solo swim
Sunday, 4 September 1977 (event date)
Completed Catalina Island → mainland → Catalina Island. Total time unresolved: CCSF pages publish 20:03:17 and 20:03:01.
Sources disagree · Details and qualifications are in the career evidence.
1976
Completed a mainland-to-island Catalina Channel swim.
1977
Completed a continuous double crossing of the Catalina Channel.
29 July 1978
Swam England to France in 7 hours 40 minutes.
1979
Won the women’s world professional marathon-swimming title.
1996
Inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame.
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First recorded finish
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Selected swimming performances appear in the English Channel record above.
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