page_title: Plunge for distance
section_title: Notable plungers
hierarchical_section_title: Plunge for distance / Notable plungers
caption_attribution_description: English: Photo for U.S. swimmer Fred Schwedt, who set world record for the plunge for distance in 1920, at age 17.
context_page_description: The plunge for distance is a diving event that enjoyed its greatest popularity in the 19th and early part of the 20th century, even being included as an official event in the 1904 Summer Olympics. By the 1920s, it began to lose its popularity and slowly disappeared from U.S. and English swim competitions.
context_section_description: Edgar Adams – Silver medalist at 1904 Summer Olympics, he subsequently set the U.S. plunge record a few times, last setting a record of 70 feet in December 1906.
  G.A. Blake – English plunger who set record mark of 75 feet 7 inches on October 10, 1888.
  Charlotte Boyle – set U.S. female records in the plunge, also competed as a swimmer in the 1920 Olympics.
  Horace Davenport (died 1925) – English plunger who won competitions in the 1870s and 1880s, including 1884, 1885, and 1886 English Plunging Championship.  Also known for plunging feet first.  Davenport also was known for endurance swims.
  William Dickey – U.S. plunger from the New York Athletic Club, and winner of the 1904 Olympic gold medal
  Fred Schwedt (1902–1986) – U.S. plunger who set a reported world record at age 17 of 82 feet 9 inches on March 1, 1920, beating the 1906 mark set by W. Taylor.  Schwedt was reportedly able to coast 75 feet after 90 days of practice.
  W. Taylor – Set world records in both 1-minute and untimed competitions in the late 1890s.  On September 14, 1898, he floated 78 feet 9 inches in 60 seconds, setting the English A.S.A. record.  In September 1902, he made it to 79 feet 3 inches.  On September 6, 1899 he plunged 82 feet in 73.6 seconds.  In 1906, he reached 82 feet 7 inches, a world record which stood for many years.
  Francis Winder (F.W.) Parrington – The current world record holder for total distance, whose mark of 86 feet 8 inches was set on September 23, 1933.  Parrington reportedly won the English Plunging Championship 11 times between 1926 and 1939.  In September 1926, Parrington broke Taylor's (and presumably Schwedt's) distance record, setting a new mark of 85 feet 6 inches.  A police officer, Parrington died during the Liverpool Blitz on May 8, 1941, at age 42.  In 1986, he was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame.  Parrington's son was also a swimmer, and his grandson David Parrington (who competed for Zimbabwe at the 1980 Summer Olympics) is (as of 2020) the Head Diving Coach at the University of Tennessee.
  Charles H. Pyrah - Set the United States' plunge record of 63 feet in 1902.  Finished fifth (and last) in 1904 Olympics.
caption: Fred Schwedt, set new world record in 1920 at age 17
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