Speaking of Swimming

George Freeth was also a world-class swimmer, but his surfing exhibitions and lifeguarding in California disqualified him from the Olympics (too “professional”). It was his friend Duke Kahanamoku—later a famous surfer and sometime Hollywood star—who went to the Olympics three times and became an American household name. He swam for America although he was really Hawaiian. (It worked that way before statehood.) Duke has an official Beijing 2008 page over here, and a big fan who somehow makes him look like Dave Eggers.

At the 1912 Stockholm Olympics Duke told reporters that if Freeth had been allowed to compete, America would have cleaned up on the high-dive.

UPDATE: Here’s another Hawaiian boy in action.

     posted 14 August 2008 by Michael Scott Moore