Swimmers shine brightest in the Olympics, and there are some remarkable and fun facts about some of those men and women who have achieved greatness in Olympic pools. From the record-setting gold medal haul of Michael Phelps to the remarkable comeback of Dara Torres to some of the entertaining career turns taken by all-time great swimmers, there's no shortage of fun and fascinating information about swimmers.
Michael Phelps
Phelps, an American swimmer, became the most successful Olympic swimmer in history in 2008 when he won eight gold medals, an Olympic record for gold medals won at one Olympic games. His record-breaking performance in Beijing came just four years after he won eight medals, including six golds, at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece. Phelps, born in 1985 in Maryland, started swimming because his two older sisters joined a local swim team. At age 7, he was still nervous about putting his head underwater, so his coach let him work on his backstroke until he was ready to try the other strokes.
Dara Torres
Torres, also an American, swam in her first international competition at age 14. At 41, she won three silver medals at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, her fifth Olympic games. She became the first woman swimmer older than the age of 40 to compete in an Olympic games. In all, she won 12 Olympic medals, including four golds, four silver and four bronzes. Torres, who won 28 NCAA awards as a swimmer at the University of Florida, became the first U.S. swimmer to compete in four Olympic games: 1984, 1988, 1992 and 2000. By winning silver medals in 2004, Torres became one of very few Olympians from any country to win a medal in five Olympic games. Her 12 Olympic medals tie her with American swimmer Jenny Thompson.
Johnny Weissmuller
Johnny Weissmuller made nearly 20 "Tarzan" movies in the 1930s and 1940s and is perhaps best known for his film alter ego. But Weismuller, born in Pennsylvania and raised in Chicago, was an Olympic hero long before he donned the loin cloth and swung on vines through the jungle. In the 1924 Olympics, Weismuller won three gold medals, and won two more golds in the 1928 Olympics. He later became a professional swimmer and modeled swimsuits before Hollywood came calling, looking for someone who could realistically play the part of Edgar Rice Burroughs' jungle hero. Weismuller died in 1984 at the age of 79.
Buster Crabbe
Like Weismuller, Buster Crabbe parlayed Olympic swimming success into a Hollywood career. And also like Weismuller, Crabbe played Tarzan, but in only one film. Crabbe appeared in numerous Westerns and other films throughout the 1930s, but achieved Hollywood immortality playing two science fiction heroes: Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers in serials and feature films. Before his movie career, he won a bronze medal in the 1928 Olympics and a gold in the 1932 games. He died in 1983 at age 75.
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