Johnny Weissmuller
Olympic champion who became the definitive screen Tarzan.
Johnny Weissmuller was an American Olympic swimmer, water polo player and actor who set world records and won five gold medals in the Olympics.[1] He played Tarzan in twelve feature films from 1932 to 1948.[2] Throughout his amateur career, Weissmuller was undefeated in every race he entered and finished with a perfect record.[3]
Quick Facts
- Birth name
- Johann Peter Weißmüller
- Born
- 2 June 1904
- Birthplace
- Szabadfalva, Temes County, Austria-Hungary; (now Freidorf, Timisoara, Timis County, Romania)
- Died
- 20 January 1984
- Place of death
- Acapulco, Guerrero, Mexico
- Children
- 3
- Years active
- 1929–1976
- Occupation
- Olympic swimmer
- water polo player
- actor
Facts from the source article.
Life and work
He dropped out of school to support his mother and younger brother after his father deserted the family.[4] Weissmuller tried out for swimming coach Bill Bachrach, who took him under his wing as a mentor.[4] He won the 100-meter freestyle, 400-meter freestyle, and 4×200-meter relay at the 1924 Summer Olympics.[5] Polio struck Weissmuller when he was nine years old, and following his doctor's advice, he took up swimming as a form of rehabilitation.[6][7]
Duke Kahanamoku's world record for the 100-meter freestyle was surpassed by Weissmuller on July 9, 1922, when he completed the distance in 58.6 seconds.[8] Two additional gold medals were earned by Weissmuller during the 1928 Summer Olympics held in Amsterdam.[9] The achievement of being the initial swimmer to complete the 100-meter freestyle in less than sixty seconds belongs to Weissmuller.[3] Pulmonary edema was the cause of Weissmuller's death on January 20, 1984, when he was 79 years old.[10]
What the cited sources add
Rasmussen's article also states that Weissmuller carried the American flag at the 1928 games in Amsterdam.[7] A Deutsche Welle article from 2014 lists Weissmuller among the most prominent Banat Swabians.[11] Rasmussen's article further notes that Weissmuller broke into his famous Tarzan yell when room service failed to deliver sausage with his buckwheat cakes.[7]
References
- Wikipedia, "Johnny Weissmuller" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Johnny Weissmuller", Olympedia (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Johnny Weissmuller" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Johnny Weissmuller", Los Angeles Times; "Biography - The Official Licensing Website of Johnny Weissmuller", Johnny Weissmuller (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Johnny Weissmuller" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Johnny Weissmuller (USA)", ISHOF.org; Johnny Weissmuller profile , sports-reference.com; accessed November 12, 2015.; Simonton, "Greatness: Who Makes History and Why", Guilford Press, 1994, p. 156; "Johnny Weissmuller (USA)", ISHOF.org (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Johnny Weissmuller" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Biography - The Official Licensing Website of Johnny Weissmuller", Johnny Weissmuller (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Johnny Weissmuller" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Christopher, "Greatest Sports Heroes of All Times: North American Edition", Encouragement Press, 2006, p. 204; "Johnny Weissmuller", Olympic.org (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Johnny Weissmuller" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Rasmussen, "From the pool to Hollywood stardom", baltimoresun.com, 17 August 2008 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Rasmussen, "From the pool to Hollywood stardom", baltimoresun.com, 17 August 2008. facts only, no text reused. baltimoresun.com
- Wikipedia, "Johnny Weissmuller" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Safire, William, "The New York Times Guide to Essential Knowledge: A Desk Reference for the Curious Mind", Macmillan, 2007, p. 943 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Johnny Weissmuller" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Kirsch, "Encyclopedia of Ethnicity and Sports in the United States", Greenwood Publishing Group, 2000, p. 488; Johnny Weissmuller profile , sports-reference.com; accessed November 12, 2015. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Johnny Weissmuller" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Sisson, "The American Midwest: An Interpretive Encyclopedia", Indiana University Press, 2007, p. 902 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- "Romania's ethnic Germans get their day in the spotlight", Deutsche Welle, 18 November 2014. facts only, no text reused. dw.com
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Johnny Weissmuller (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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