Johnny Weissmuller

Johnny Weissmuller (1904-1984), American swimmer and motion-picture actor, who won five gold medals at the Olympic Games during his swimming career. Born in Freidorf, Hungary (now in Romania), Weissmuller moved to the United States as a child and grew up in Chicago. It was not widely known that he was foreign born until after his death.

The foremost freestyle swimmer in the world during the 1920s, Weissmuller set world records in many distances, including breaking the world record for the 100-yard freestyle event five times between 1922 and 1927. At the 1924 Olympics in Paris, he won gold medals in the 100-meter and 400-meter freestyle events and the 4 × 200-meter freestyle relay. At the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam, Netherlands, he repeated his victory in the 100-meter freestyle and was again a member of the winning 4 × 200-meter relay team. In 1932 Weissmuller embarked on a motion-picture career and soon became identified with the role of Tarzan, the jungle hero originally created by American adventure writer Edgar Rice Burroughs.