Lynne Cox’s Bering Strait swim helped thaw Cold War

On 7 August 1987, American endurance swimmer Lynne Cox, then 30, swam 2.7 miles from Little Diomede Island in Alaska to Soviet-controlled Big Diomede Island. The water temperature was 3.3°C. The crossing took her two hours and five minutes and crossed the International Date Line and a heavily guarded Cold War border. Cox had sought permission for 11 years, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev approved it just 24 hours before the swim.

Cox, who at 15 broke the world record for the fastest English Channel crossing by a man or woman, undertook the swim as a peace symbol. The Times of India reports that local Inupiaq guides accompanied her in traditional skin boats, the first time in over 40 years residents crossed the maritime border. Upon landing, too weak to stand, she was pulled ashore by Soviet officers and treated for hypothermia by Dr. Rita Zakarova.

Later that year, during the December 1987 summit in Washington where Reagan and Gorbachev signed the INF Treaty, both leaders toasted Cox. Gorbachev said: 'She proved by her courage how close to each other our peoples live.' The National Park Service records the swim as an important moment in US-Soviet relations.