Duke Kahanamoku

Duke Kahanamoku, who was named after the Duke of Edinburgh, was the first great Hawaiian swimmer. In 1911, swimming in the open sea but without any tidal advantage, he bettered the world 100y record by almost five seconds. Not surprisingly, this and some of his other marks, were viewed with skepticism by the AAU. However, after Duke had competed on the mainland and then in Europe, the world was left with no doubt that a genuine new swimming talent had arrived. He went on to set numerous world records and only Johnny Weissmuller prevented him from winning an unprecedented hat trick of Olympic 100 free titles. Kahanamoku won his second Olympic title in 1920 on his 30th birthday but his Olympic career was far from over. He won a silver medal in 1924, was an alternate on the 1928 team and in 1932, after 10 years in Hollywood, was an alternate to the water polo team. Later he went to Hollywood to be an actor. One of his films triggered the boom of surfing. His bronze monument can be seen at the Waikiki beach in Honolulu. He was the first athlete to be inducted into the International Halls of Fame for swimming and surfing. 1932-1961 he Kahanamoku was Sheriff of Honolulu from 1932-61. His brother Sam was also a medal winner in Olympic swimming.