Johnny Weissmuller – 1924 Paris Olympics

Johnny Weissmuller is best known for his definitive role in 12 movies as Tarzan, from the 1932 Tarzan the Ape Man to the 1948 Tarzan and the Mermaids. After playing Tarzan of the Edgar Rice Burroughs character in his 1912-1947 magazine series called Tarzan, Johnny Weissmuller then played the role as Jungle Jim from 1948-1954 in 13 movies and 26 episodes of the 1956-1958 television program.

But before he was Tarzan and Jungle Jim, he was an Olympic swimmer. Johnny Weissmuller (1904-1984) was born Johann Peter Weissmuller in Freidorf in Hungary (now in Romania). His parents migrated to America in 1905.

He became known for having one of the best competitive swimming records in the 20^th century. He won five gold medals in two Olympic Games: Paris in 1924 and Amsterdam in 1928.

In 1924 at the Paris Olympics, at the age of 20, he won the 100 metre and 400 metre freestyle and the 4x200 metre freestyle relay, as well as bronze in the water polo team competition. In 1928, he won the 100 metre freestyle and the 4x200 metre freestyle relay.

The Olympic Games returns to Paris 2024, and Johnny Weissmuller featured in the Paris Town Hall exhibition in February 2022 called “History, Sport & Citizenship: From the Olympic Games in Athens 1896 to the Olympics and Paralympics in Paris 2024” (Histoire, Sport & Citoyenneté: Des Jeux Olympiques D’Athenes 1896 aux Jeux Olympiques et Paralympiques de Paris 2024).

MARTINA NICOLLS

MartinaNicollsWebsite

SUBSCRIBE TO MARTINA NICOLLS FOR NEWS AND UPDATES

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of: The Paris Residences of James Joyce (2020), Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

Comments

Pir-E-Kamil - The Perfect Mentor by Umera Ahmed: book review

The Perfect Mentor pbuh (2011) is set in Lahore and Islamabad in Pakistan. The novel commences with Imama Mubeen in medical university. She wants to be an eye specialist. Her parents have arranged for her to marry her first cousin Asjad. Salar Sikander, her neighbour, is 18 years old with an IQ of 150+ and a photographic memory. He has long hair tied in a ponytail. He imbibes alcohol, treats women disrespectfully and is generally a “weird chap” and a rude, belligerent teenager. In the past three years he has tried to commit suicide three times. He tries again. Imama and her brother, Waseem, answer the servant’s call to help Salar. They stop the bleeding from his wrist and save his life. Imama and Asjad have been engaged for three years, because she wants to finish her studies first. Imama is really delaying her marriage to Asjad because she loves Jalal Ansar. She proposes to him and he says yes. But he knows his parents won’t agree, nor will Imama’s parents. That

Flaws in the Glass, a self-portrait by Patrick White: book review

The manuscript, Flaws in the Glass (1981), is Patrick Victor Martindale White’s autobiography. White, born in 1912 in England, migrated to Sydney, Australia, when he was six months old. For three years, at the age of 20, he studied French and German literature at King’s College at the University of Cambridge in England. Throughout his life, he published 12 novels. In 1957 he won the inaugural Miles Franklin Literary Award for Voss, published in 1956. In 1961, Riders in the Chariot became a best-seller, winning the Miles Franklin Literary Award. In 1973, he was the first Australian author to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for The Eye of the Storm, despite many critics describing his works as ‘un-Australian’ and himself as ‘Australia’s most unreadable novelist.’ In 1979, The Twyborn Affair was short-listed for the Booker Prize, but he withdrew it from the competition to give younger writers the opportunity to win the award. His autobiography, Flaws in the Glass

The Beggars' Strike by Aminata Sow Fall: book review

The Beggar’sStrike (1979 in French and 1981 in English) is set in an unstated country in West Africa in a city known only as The Capital. Undoubtedly, Senegalese author Sow Fall writes of her own experiences. It was also encapsulated in the 2000 film, Battu , directed by Cheick Oumar Sissoko from Mali. Mour Ndiaye is the Director of the Department of Public Health and Hygiene, with the opportunity of a distinguished and coveted promotion to Vice-President of the Republic. Tourism has declined and the government blames the local beggars in The Capital. Ndiaye must rid the streets of beggars, according to a decree from the Minister. Ndiaye instructs his department to carry out weekly raids. One of the raids leads to the death of lame beggar, Madiabel, who ran into an oncoming vehicle as he tried to escape, leaving two wives and eight children. Soon after, another raid resulted in the death of the old well-loved, comic beggar Papa Gorgui Diop. Enough is enou

FEAST OR FAMINE

Search This Blog