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19 March 2024

Johnny Weissmuller: From gold to silver screen

Swimmer John Weissmuller leaning forward, standing in front of a backdrop in a room, Chicago, Illinois, 1922. (Getty Images)

Published
By AFP

Long before he swung on to the silver screen as 'Tarzan the Ape Man', America's Weissmuller found fame at the Olympics, where he dominated the swimming events at the Paris and Amsterdam Games in 1924 and 1928.

At a time when only six men's gold medals were on offer, the son of German immigrants won the 100m and 400m freestyle, as well as the 4x200m freestyle relay, in Paris, before successfully defending the 100m and relay titles four years later - a career haul of five Olympic titles.

He also took water polo bronze in Paris, for good measure.

Weissmuller didn't win as many gold medals as Mark Spitz or Michael Phelps, but he bears comparison owing to his huge margins of victory and the small number of swimming events contested at the time.

His superiority owed much to his revolutionary use of the flutter kick and head-turning breathing - innovations that remain to this day.

After his Olympic career, Weissmuller made even more of a splash in Hollywood, where he shot 12 Tarzan films and became synonymous with the character, pioneering his famous jungle yell.