Duke Kahanamoku

Duke Kahanamoku
Duke Kahanamoku, around 1912
Personal information
Surname:	Duke Kahanamoku
Nation:	Kingdom of Hawaii  United States
Swimming style (s) :	Freestyle
Birthday:	August 24, 1890
Place of birth:	Honolulu
Date of death:	January 22, 1968
Place of death:	Honolulu
Medal table
Olympic medals 3 × 2 × 0 ×

Duke Paoa Kahinu Mokoe Hulikohola Kahanamoku (born August 24, 1890 in Honolulu , Kingdom of Hawaii ; † January 22, 1968 ibid), also called The Big Kahuna , was a three-time Olympic swimming champion and is widely regarded as the founder of modern surfing . After a decline in the 19th, it was rediscovered by Kahanamoku in the early 20th century and made popular worldwide.

Life

The Salt Lake Tribune , February 2, 1913, feature on Duke Kahanamoku

Duke Kahanamoku surfing off Waikiki. Photograph by AR Gurrey, Jr., circa 1910

Duke (German "Herzog") is Kahanamoku's first name. His father was baptized in this way, in honor of Prince Alfred von Sachsen-Coburg-Gotha, Duke of Edinburgh , who had visited Hawaii in 1869 at the time of his birth. The name Duke then passed on to the eldest son.

During his youth, Kahanamoku began to develop a predecessor model for today's surfboards , based on the Hawaiian Olo boards, which have been known for centuries. The board called "papa nui" was made of wood from the Koa acacia , was 4.8 meters long and weighed 52 kilograms. The board did not have a fin .

On August 11, 1911, Kahanamoku took part in a swimming competition in the Honolulu harbor basin. Over 100 yards (91.44 meters) freestyle he achieved a time of 55.4 seconds, with which he undercut the world record of Frederick Lane of 1901 by 4.6 seconds and the world record of Richard Cavill of 1902 by 3.0 seconds. It also broke the record of 220 yards (201.17 meters) and equalized the record of 50 yards (45.72 meters). But the Amateur Athletic Union had doubts about these times and did not recognize these achievements until many years later.

Even so, Kahanamoku easily qualified for the 1912 Olympics . In the qualification he swam a new world record in the 200 meters freestyle. In Stockholm he was then Olympic champion in the 100 m freestyle and won a silver medal with the relay. At the Olympic Games in Antwerp in 1920 he won the gold medal in the 100 m freestyle in front of his compatriot Pua Kealoha ; he was also victorious in the relay. At the Olympic Games in Paris in 1924 , he won the silver medal over 100 m, behind Johnny Weissmuller and in front of his brother Samuel Kahanamoku . At the 1932 Olympic Games in Los Angeles , he took part as a substitute in water polo , but was not used.

Between the Olympic Games and after his retirement from elite sport, Kahanamoku traveled to many countries for swimming demonstrations, in particular to Australia and the USA . At these events he also presented surfing, which until then had only been known in Hawaii.

In 1940 he married Nadine Alexander, daughter of a wealthy American businessman, who usually accompanied him on his travels.

During his stays in Southern California, Kahanamoku appeared in numerous Hollywood films. He made the acquaintance of people who helped to increase the popularity of surfing. Duke Kahanamoku was the first to be inducted into both the International Swimming Hall of Fame and the Surfing Hall of Fame . The Duke Kahanamoku Invitational Surfing Championships were named after him. He was Honolulu Sheriff from 1932 to 1961 . Because of his merits, the statue erected in his honor on Waikīkī Beach is often adorned with leis (flower garlands).

Kahanamoku was a member of the Freemasonry Association , his lodge Hawaiian Lodge No. 21 is based in Honolulu. Duke Kahanamoku died of a heart attack in Honolulu on January 22, 1968 at the age of 77 .

The director Quentin Tarantino used his nickname, The Big Kahuna, for the fictional fast food chain Big Kahuna Burger in the film Pulp Fiction .

literature

• Hellmut Draws-Tychsen, brilliant poem for Prince Kahanamoku of Hawaii. Dedicated to the guests and members of the Society of Bibliophiles who gathered in Stuttgart in 1938 by Gerhard Schulze, Leipzig , Leipzig: Karl Meyer, 1936
• Ellie Crowe, Surfer of the century: the life of Duke Kahanamoku , New York: Lee & Low Books, 2007, ISBN 978-1-58430-276-6
• Phil Jarratt, That Summer at Boomerang: From the waves of Waikiki to the sand dunes of Freshwater, the true story of Duke Kahanamoku in Australia , Richmond: Hardie Grant Books, 2014, ISBN 978-1-74270-525-5

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Duke Kahanamoku: Athletes and Other Sports Figures: List of Famous Freemasons . navesinklodge9.org. Archived from the original on September 29, 2013. Retrieved October 24, 2012.

Web links

Commons : Duke Kahanamoku  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Hawaii hero Duke Kahanamoku, The King of Surfers , biography and photo series, one day , January 16, 2017
• Duke Kahanamoku in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Duke Kahanamoku in the Internet Movie Database (English)