Maybe the Anglin brothers could have used Riley Gaines’ advice. (Or maybe not? We’ll never know.)
Gaines, the former NCAA swimmer who has since fought for fairness in women’s sports, posted on X that she “successfully swam Alcatraz” on Friday.
The infamous prison-turned-museum sits right in the bay in San Francisco, and is roughly a 1.25-mile swim to shore.
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Former University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines speaks at an event. (Michael Clevenger/Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK)
“Successfully swam Alcatraz with a handful of the most impressive Navy Seals & combat veterans. It was such a fun (and cold) way to honor those who risk their lives for our great nation. God bless our troops!” she posted.
Gaines then sent an invitation to Keith Olbermann, with whom she’s had social media spats before, to try to accomplish the feat with her next time. “Although, I’m not sure the general public wants to see him in a Speedo.”
The prison opened in 1934, but it didn’t even last 30 years.
Considering its distance to shore, Alcatraz was categorized as practically escape-proof, although there were 14 documented attempted escapes.
Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines swims the 200 Butterfly prelims at the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships on March 19th, 2022 at the McAuley Aquatic Center in Atlanta, Georgia. (Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
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The most notorious one, though, was the June 11, 1962, escape by John and Clarence Anglin and Frank Morris, which also turned into a Hollywood movie, “Escape from Alcatraz.”
It remains a mystery whether the three reached shore and survived, but it was also the one deemed the most likely to have been successful, although the FBI concluded the escapees drowned due to harsh conditions.
The three prisoners chiseled an escape route from their own jail cells and built makeshift, paper-mache heads.
The final attempted escape from the prison, almost six months later, was the basis of what has now become the swimming route of the “Escape from Alcatraz” triathlon.
(Terry Wyatt/Getty Images)
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Gaines hosts the “Gaines for Girls” podcast on OutKick, where she discusses what has occurred with transgender individuals participating in girls’ and women’s sports.
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