How Duke Kahanamoku won gold, lost to Tarzan and then found a bigger legacy
The Hawaiian swam his last Olympic race 100 years ago. As the grandfather of surfing and Hawaii’s unofficial ambassador, he left behind something more resonant.



Johnny Weissmuller, left, and Duke Kahanamoku at the 1924 Paris Olympics. (AP)

By Les Carpenter
Updated July 18, 2024 at 5:16 p.m. EDT | Published July 18, 2024 at 9:33 a.m. EDT

Long before Michael Phelps, Mark Spitz and Caeleb Dressel, there was Duke Kahanamoku. In the early part of the 20th century, there might not have been a more dynamic and fascinating American Olympian than the swimmer plucked at 21 years old from Honolulu’s Waikiki Beach who, despite only minimal training, won gold medals in the 100-meter freestyle at the 1912 and 1920 Olympics.

Kahanamoku was tall, dark and regal with powerful legs, a bright smile and tousled hair. Sportswriters of the day were charmed by the swimmer who played the ukulele and made his own surfboards. At a time when almost only White athletes were celebrated, Kahanamoku’s photo was on the front pages of magazines and newspapers. When the U.S. team stopped in Paris for a swimming exhibition in the Seine while on the way home from the 1920 Antwerp Olympics, local reporters rushed to see him under the mistaken impression he was Hawaiian royalty.

“A man unlike any other man at his time,” said Eric Carlson, a movie producer who is working with actor Jason Momoa on a full-length feature film about Kahanamoku’s life. ... But four years later, when he returned to Paris for the 1924 Olympics, Kahanamoku’s popularity had waned. On the afternoon of July 20, 1924, he finished second in the 100 meters to a boisterous, barrel-chested American from Illinois named Johnny Weissmuller. Kahanamoku never swam in the Olympics again.

Weissmuller won four more Olympic gold medals before going on to play Tarzan in a series of films in which he swung from vines and called across the jungles in a yodeling yell. Kahanamoku also tried to be a Hollywood star, only to learn that there were no leading roles for men of color at the time. ... Yet a century after that 100-meter race and with the Olympics again in Paris, Weissmuller is the one largely forgotten while Kahanamoku might be as famous now as at the height of his swimming glory. He is often called “The Father of Modern Surfing,” credited for spreading the sport around the world. He popularized Hawaiian print shirts and is still celebrated as an unofficial ambassador of Hawaii, 56 years after his death.



Kahanamoku, bottom, participates in a surfing competition at Waikiki Beach. (Bettmann/Bettmann Archive)

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Tourists take a selfie in front of a statue of Kahanamoku in Honolulu. (Marie Eriel S. Hobro/FTWP)

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By Les Carpenter
Les Carpenter returned to The Washington Post in 2018 and now writes about the Olympics and Olympics-related issues. Twitter https://twitter.com/LesCarpenter