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Duke
Kahanamoku
Duke
Paoa Kahinu Mokoe Hulikohola Kahanamoku, as was his full name,
was perhaps the first great swimmer in the history of the
Olympic Games. He had participated in four  Olympic
organizations, 1912, 1920, 1924 and 1932, winning three gold
and two silver medals. What is more, Duke Kahanamoku was the
swimmer that introduced the swimming technique with the head
in the water in the freestyle events.
Kahanamoku was born on 24 August 1890 in Honolulu, Hawaii
- one of the most isolated states of the USA at that time
- and he was the eldest of the family's 9 children. In his
adolescence he quitted school and his activity was almost
exclusively channelled to anything that had to do with the
sea and especially swimming and surfing. In the summer of
1911, during demonstration games that were held in Hawaii,
he was "spotted" by W. Rawlins, who soon became his first
trainer. Although his performances of that period were never
recognized as world records, soon Duke Kahanamoku took part
in games for the composition of the USA Olympic team in view
of the 1912 Olympic Games that would be held in Stockholm.
He won the 100m freestyle using the new technique in freestyle
swimming and achieved a world record, something that he repeated
in the Olympics. That was his first gold medal. In the same
Games he won the silver medal with the 4x200m relay team of
the USA.
After that and until the next Olympic Games, in 1920 in Antwerp
(the Olympic Games were not held in 1916), he had participated
in national and international games gaining victories and
setting records. He had also participated in demonstration
games in the USA, Australia and elsewhere, not only in swimming
but also in surfing, which was made widely known primarily
thanks to him. In 1920, at the age of 30, he took part in
the Antwerp Olympic Games, winning the gold medal in the 100m
freestyle and setting a world record. In the same event his
younger brother Sam won the third place. He also won the gold
medal as a member of the 4x200m relay team. His predominance
in freestyle swimming had not been interrupted before 1924,
in the Paris Olympic Games, where he remained second in the
100m freestyle, behind Johnny Weismuller. He was 34 years
old by then, but did not give up sport but 8 years later.
He participated in the 1932 Los Angeles Games with the US
water polo team.
After having given up competitive sport he returned to Hawaii
and was soon elected local sheriff, like his father, a title
which he had maintained for 13 consecutive terms of office.
He also engaged in cinema professionally playing many second
roles, especially in the 1920s. However, in Hollywood he did
not have the success of the swimmer that displaced him from
the top, Weismuller, the man who incarnated Tarzan in the
1930s. Kahanamoku died on 22 January 1968.
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