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

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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).

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