Cindy Nicholas, the Toronto woman who became famous as a record-breaking long-distance swimmer, has died at the age of 58.
She died Thursday of liver cancer.
Nicholas first rose to prominence in 1974, as a 16-year-old, when she set a world record for swimming across Lake Ontario from Youngstown, N.Y., to the Canadian National Exhibition.
Three years later, Nicholas became the first woman to swim the English Channel both ways, non-stop.
She set a world record for the swim, completing it in 19 hours and 55 minutes.
Nicholas was inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 1993.
She grew up in Scarborough and was a Liberal MPP for Scarborough Centre from 1987 to 1990.