Atina Bojadzi (13 March 1944 – 28 December 2010) was a Macedonian

Republic of Macedonia

Macedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country located in the central Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991...

 marathon swimmer who became one of Macedonia's most popular athletes after successfully crossing the English Channel

English Channel

The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...

 in 1969. Atina's parents were of Albanian descent.

Nicknamed the "Ohrid Dolphin" after her lakeside hometown, Bojadzi won several national and international long-distance swimming races. She became the first woman from former Yugoslavia

Yugoslavia

Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....

to swim across the English Channel in 1969. The achievement inspired a 1975 movie about her life and earned her sporting honors in her native Macedonia after it declared independence in 1991.

Atina Bojadzi died in her home country of Macedonia on 28 December 2010, aged 66.