itjust made me appreciate mercedes more for what she did and how brave she was to do it, and do it alone. and if you've never heard of mercedes, you're in good company. even her own family had only a sketchy idea of her achievements, until they found her archive after she died. i knew my grandmother well. i spent a lot of time with her. but she never spoke to me about swimming. you knew nothing about the swimming? nothing. she never spoke to me about swimming at all. in fact, she lied about the fact that she was a swimmer to the neighbours that she lived with. you know, she was challenged — you know, "you're mercedes gleitze, aren't you?" she would deny who she was? it's laughable, because it's obvious who she was, but she denied who she was, because she didn't want that life any more. what would you want to take from her these days? i mean, what is her message? i think the central message from mercedes gleitze is that,