I deliberately prepared in advance for this year’s Valentine’s Day, focusing not on myself but on sharing the heartfelt story of Duke Kahanamoku.
This is why I find myself on a beach in Hawaii, paying tribute and respect to the star of my narrative.
Although I was only eight when he passed away and didn’t know him personally, I researched his biography and was impressed by his swimming career and humble personality.
He was born in Haleʻākala, Honolulu, Hawaii in 1890.
Duke Kahanamoku was an exceptional swimmer who set a 100-yard freestyle world record of 55.4 seconds on August 11, 1911, in Honolulu Harbor, surpassing the previous record by 4.6 seconds. He also broke the 220-yard record and equaled the 50-yard record.
However, the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) did not recognize these achievements for years, initially doubting the judges’ timing methods and attributing his success to ocean currents.
The Hawaiian people supported Kahanamoku, enabling him to compete in Antwerp. He qualified for the 1912 U.S. Olympic swimming team, winning a gold medal in the 100-meter freestyle and a silver in the men’s 4×200-meter freestyle relay in Stockholm.
Duke’s life story is remarkable; he was inducted into the Olympic Hall of Fame and Surfing Hall of Fame.
He became a hero in 1925 by rescuing eight of thirteen people from a capsized boat in Newport Beach using only his surfboard.
At that time, the police chief of Newport Beach referred to Kahanamoku’s actions as “the most superhuman surfboard rescue act the world has ever seen.” The extensive coverage of the rescue inspired lifeguards throughout the United States to adopt surfboards as standard gear for water rescues.
This is not the end of my story because there are so much more that he was able to accomplish after his olympic days but I have to do it in my next post.
And on my next post I will attempt to shorten but cover most of my story.
