Lynne Cox

Lynne Cox's Key Accomplishments Include...
Lynne Cox is a bold risk-taker who has explored the far territories of human endurance,. She is the world's most extraordinary long distance swimmer, and has repeatedly proved this in the coldest and most treacherous waterways of the world. Lynne Cox's natural exuberance and flair for the dramatic make her an inspiring speaker. Audiences cheer Lynne's heroic story and marvel at the vital lessons learned from it. Blessed with few of the standard tools of athletic prowess, Lynne Cox has relied on gritty dedication and an indomitable spirit to accomplish feats that are nearly unimaginable.

Lynne Cox's best-selling book, Swimming to Antarctica, appeared on many distinguished lists, including Amazon's "Top 50 Books of 2004" and Sports Illustrated's  "Best Sports Books of 2004."

More about Lynne Cox...
Lynne Cox was the first person to swim more than a mile in 32 degree water to the ice-bound shore of Antarctica, where she was greeted by a flock of penguins. This accomplishment is only one of many records set since the age of 15, when she broke the men's and women's records for her 33 mile swim of the English Channel. Lynne Cox has also shattered the men's record for swimming the Catalina Channel.

Many of Lynne Cox's incredible achievements involve firsts: She was the first woman to swim the Cook Strait in New Zealand, between the north and south islands, the first person to swim Skagerrak, between Norway and Sweden, the first to swim the shark-infested waters around Cape of Good Hope, Africa, the first to swim the Strait of Magellan-reputedly the most treacherous 3 mile stretch of water in the world-and the first person to swim Lake Titicaca (altitude: 12,500 feet) from Bolivia to Peru.

In 1987, Lynne Cox swam the Bering Strait, the channel that forms the boundary between Alaska and Siberia, opening the US-Soviet border for the first time in 48 years. And that's just the stuff that made the headlines. . . Audiences are equally inspired by the parts of Lynne Cox's story not recorded in the record books: Being considered too plump to participate in sports (in point of fact, her female trait of evenly distributed body fat has been a key to her success) Lynne Cox trained her body to tolerate many hours of freezing temperatures that might kill a normal person in a matter of minutes. Lynne Cox's almost mystical ability to blend the functions of mind, body, and spirit helps to answer everyone’s most pressing question: Doesn’t Lynne feel the sharp bite of intense cold? To which she replies, “It’s not that I don’t feel it; it’s just that I don’t focus on it.”

• Personal Growth
• Women's Issues
• Sports and Adventure

"I am at a loss about how to express how mesmerizing, inspiring, and simply perfect you were as our closing speaker for the year. I have been in this game a long time - more than 15 years of planning programming for women and hearing some of the most remarkable speakers in the country. And I have never heard anyone more real, engaging, thought-provoking, funny, truly accomplished and humble all the same. You had the women of Leadership America leaningforward, cherishing your every word."

--- Candace O'Keefe Mathis, Director and CEO
Leadership American