Michael Loynd - The Watermen: The Birth of American Swimming and One Young Mans Fight to Capture Olympic Gold

F ifteen thousand British spectators gathered inside Londons Olympic stadium to see if the human fish could actually crawl on top of the water. Despite the morning rains, the crowds came on a cloudy July afternoon in 1908 to bear witness to what newspapers on both sides of the Atlantic had been writing about over the past two years. But when the young American walked onto the damp lawn, he didnt look anything like a fish. He wore a dark blue swim cap over his short blond hair, a heavy, navy-colored wool bathing suit that stretched from shoulders to knees, and a long white robe that moments later would be at the center of an international scandal.

At a time when only top royalty and powerful heads of state were known beyond their countrys borders, the name of the so-called American fish, Charles Daniels, was on peoples lips throughout North America, Europe, and Australia. No one quite knew where he came from. The origins of his swimming prowess remained equally mysterious. And whatever fueled his unlikely rise was made all the more inexplicable by the fact that almost no one in America swam. The countrys measly six hundred competitive swimmers had been discarded as laughingstocks compared with the superior Europeans. Yet somehow this twenty-three-year-old, who admittedly could not muster a decent stroke four years earlier, held every American swimming record from fifty yards to the mile. He had willed into being the first U.S. Olympic swim team. Invented the modern-day freestyle stroke. Popularized an obscure sport whose minimal attire and openness to all genders challenged the days narrow-minded Victorian attitudes that oppressed so many. And now he claimed world records in the sport England had invented and dominated for the past seventy years.

The sports supreme authority, Englands Amateur Swimming Association, denounced him as a fraud, refusing to validate his achievements. And what had begun four years earlier as a personal struggle to overcome crippling anxiety and improve his and his mothers bleak existence now placed him at these fourth Olympic Games with the chance to accomplish what no one believed possible: becoming the first non-British swimmer to seize the worlds No. 1 ranking. America loved a winner. What Charles didnt realize was that Londons Olympic organizers were conspiring to ensure that never happened.

The European champion was already rumored to be posting world-record times after copying Danielss unique crawling technique. With a body forged from steel, an incredible wingspan, and a shaved head that signaled he was all business, the European champ had beaten him during their first encounter at the 1904 Olympics. Then won again last year at the 1907 English Championships, this time with the underhanded help of the same British swim judges who now officiated these London Games.

The fact that the Olympic officials were all British presented a major conflict of interest that the International Olympic Committee would never allow to happen again. The Brits operated all the stopwatches. They made the call on close finishes. Any complaint filed by the American team over the British referees hometown bias or blatant cheating was ruled upon by the same British officials. Unless he won by a clear margin, the opportunity for the judges to rule in another competitors favor remained very real. And Charles needed to do more than just win. To leave no room for the British Empires swimming authorities to again dismiss him, he had to break their world record. Which they had made more difficult by designing an outdoor pool four times longer than any concrete tank in the world (twice as long as what would become standard for a modern Olympic-sized pool). Its hundred-meter length eliminated Charless superior off-the-wall turning advantage that the British press insisted was the only reason he could ever defeat one of their champions. On top of that, Englands Olympic officials randomly assigned him to the farthest lane, the hardest position to hear the starting call or see ones opponents, and the most likely spot to face more resistance from the displaced waves rebounding off the side wall and back onto the swimmer. Yet, despite all these disadvantages, they sneaked in one final measure to guarantee his defeat and extinguish his growing legacy.

A sense of anticipation buzzed inside the stadium as Charles walked across the grass in front of the kings royal box and onto the wooden starting deck of the infields pool to begin the hundred-meter race. All of his teammates had met defeat at the hands of Britains superior watermen, and other than a tiny section of flag-waving countrymen relegated to the stadiums far corner, the entire crowd hoped to see the American fish defeated.

The official starter, a mustachioed Brit named Mr. Hudson, called out, Take your marks, to signal the swimmers to remove their robes. Charles had his robe half drawn off, listening intently for Mr. Hudsons next call, Are you ready?but the next word from Mr. Hudson was Go!

Every opponent vanished. Charless head whipped around in panic as he realized the trick. Loud splashes and the fast-departing churn of water exploded beneath him. His competitors had all been forewarned. They now had an insurmountable head start while Charles was still yanking his arms out of his sleeves.

Mr. Hudson and his fellow officials grinned.