Some Olympians become cultural icons

One would think competing in the Olympics would be the ultimate success for an athlete, but for some American athletes, the competitions also have given them a springboard to other successes or even to cultural icon status.

Former U.S. Olympians, who live an average of five years longer than other Americans, use their time well. Many act in movies, serve in Congress, broadcast sports on television or further social causes. The 2024 Summer Games in Paris might bring a new Olympian to our attention — someone who will shape American culture in some unexpected way.

From the pool to movies and television

Johnny Weissmuller dominated the 1924 and 1928 Games, winning five gold medals in swimming events. He also won a bronze medal in 1924 as a member of the American water polo team. But Weissmuller gained his greatest fame by playing Tarzan in a dozen films from 1932 to 1948.

The films, seen today as furthering negative stereotypes, would feature another U.S. Olympic swimmer after Weissmuller. Clarence Linden “Buster” Crabbe, who won bronze (1928) and gold (1932) medals in the freestyle events, played Tarzan in a 1933 film before going on to star as an action hero in a series of Flash Gordon films.

Dozens of other Olympians appeared in later movies including weightlifter Harold Sakata, who played Oddjob, a villain in the early James Bond thriller Goldfinger.

Other American swimmers found post-Olympic fame. After Mark Spitz had an incredible Olympic performance — winning seven gold medals and setting seven world records at the 1972 Games in Munich — he embraced advertising, negotiating endorsement deals for swimsuits, razors and milk and showing up in seemingly ubiquitous posters. A poster of Spitz in a red-white-and-blue swimsuit with his seven gold medals splashed across his tanned body sold more than 5 million copies.

But perhaps the most significant American swimming star was Donna de Varona, a California native who won two Olympic gold medals in 1964. After the Olympics, de Varona became one of the first female sports commentators on network television. Inasmuch as she also helped found the Women’s Sports Foundation to promote equal treatment of American women in sports, she might have something to do with the recent dominance of U.S. women at the Olympics.  (At the delayed 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, women won 66 medals to the men’s 41.)

Ambassadors for sport

Other Olympic athletes have popularized certain sports in America. Duke Kahanamoku, a native Hawaiian who won five swimming medals in three Olympics from 1912 to 1924, is best remembered for making surfing big in the United States.

Cathy Rigby’s 1968 Summer Games participation in women’s gymnastics piqued interest among Americans, and when Mary Lou Retton became the first American to win the all-around gold medal at the 1984 Games in Los Angeles, the sport’s popularity reached much higher levels. Retton won four more medals at that Olympics. Five American women have won the Olympic all-around medal in gymnastics since Retton.

By 1972, at a time no American runner had won the Olympic marathon since 1908, Frank Shorter did it in the Munich Games, helping to ignite a running craze in the United States. Shorter later won a silver medal in the 1976 Olympic marathon.

The first Olympic marathon for women was held in Los Angeles in 1984, and Maine native Joan Benoit’s win inspired more women to run. Now, nearly half of the runners in the Boston Marathon are women.

Social activists and politicians

Some Olympic champions had an impact on the American culture far beyond their sport.

Cassius Clay won the gold medal in boxing for the light heavyweight division in Rome in 1960. Later, after changing his name to Muhammad Ali, he boxed professionally, and by 1964 was the heavyweight champion of the world. He also became an outspoken critic of America’s war in Vietnam as well as an advocate of racial equality. Ali was selected to light the Olympic torch at the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta.

Sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos protested the treatment of Black Americans by standing with their black-gloved fists raised on the medal stand at the 1968 Olympics Games in Mexico City. Avery Brundage, the president of the International Olympic Committee, insisted Smith and Carlos be expelled from the Games. Smith and Carlos later became teachers and coaches, and they continued their social activism.

A handful of former Olympians, including Bill Bradley (basketball), Bob Mathias (decathlon) and Jim Ryun (track) sought and won seats in the U.S. Congress.

Who will be the next Olympian to reach cultural icon status? Will swimmer Katie Ledecky or gymnast Simone Biles soon shine in some new arena? Or will an athlete we don’t know yet grab the spotlight with a memorable Olympic performance? It’s one reason we will be watching the Games.

Fred Bowen is a freelance writer.