Scarborough-born Cindy Nicholas was “Queen of the Channel.”
Nicholas, a record-setting competitive swimmer and former Scarborough Centre MPP, is being remembered as a Scarborough icon.
Nicholas died on Thursday, May 19 following a battle with liver cancer. She was 58.
Known for her ability to swim great distances, Nicholas made headlines in 1974 when she successfully saw across Lake Ontario in 15 hours and 10 minutes. She was 16 years old when she set the world record.
A year later, Nicholas set yet another world record for swimming across the English Channel -- from the banks of France to England -- in 9 hours and 46 minutes.
Her successes continued in 1975 when she placed first in a number of swimming races in Quebec, including a 25-mile race across Lac St. Jean.
She was named the Women’s International Swimming Champion by The World Federation of Swimming that same year.
Nicholas earned her nickname “Queen of the Channel” after completing a total of 19 Channel crossings by 1982. Five of her 19 crossings were two-way swims -- where she swam across and then swam back in one go.
In 1987, Nicholas was elected to the Ontario legislature where she served as a Liberal MPP in David Peterson’s government for three years.
When she lost her seat in parliament in 1990, Nicholas returned to Scarborough to pursue her legal practice in the city.
Nicholas was inducted into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame in 1993, Ontario’s Sports Hall of Fame in 2003 and the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 2005.
And in 2007, Nicholas was inducted into the Scarborough Walk of Fame.
“Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame is deeply saddened by the death of one of our inducted Honoured Members, Cindy Nicholas, an inspiring, record setting distance swimmer,” President and CEO of Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame Mario Siciliano said Friday in a written statement released to media.
“Her legacy will live on for generations to come.”
