IN THE SWIM OF THINGS
Come on in, the water’s lovely. MARION McMULLEN on some famous water babies who caused a splash
5 Guardians Of The Galaxy actor Dave Bautista worked as a lifeguard before becoming a professional wrestler with the WWE and then turning to acting. He said: “I never excelled at one sport or had a very strong passion for anything other that wrestling and bodybuilding.” 6 began as health a child Tarzan Johnny Weissmuller swimming and for went his star on medals to win and of 67 five world Olympic titles gold before being cast in movies like Tarzan The Ape Man and Tarzan And The Amazons in the 1930s and 1940s. He said: “I started as a scrawny kid in Chicago and even that was lucky. It got me to swimming. Then all the good breaks in the world happened ... and kept on happening.” receive award Queen left, young Commonwealth from a junior was the person Elizabeth, the Royal lifesaving first in to Life the Saving when she Society. earned She her was 14 junior respiration award in 1941, but only recently learned she was the first. During a during a video call with the society she said: “I didn’t realise I was the first one. I just did it, and had to work very hard for it.”
7 American Crabbe 1932 Olympic was Buster the 400 metre freestyle swimming champion before landing the roles of Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers. He also played Tarzan and, at the age of 63, he set a world swimming record for the over-60s in the 400m freestyle swim in 1971. 2 Hollywood’s “American mermaid” Esther Williams was a teenage swimming champion and put her skills to good use in films like Bathing Beauty, Dangerous When Wet and Neptune’s Daughter during the 1940s and 1950s. She once said water was her favourite co-star. 8 Action movie actor Jason Statham was a member of the British National Diving
Team for 12 years and The Transporter and Fast and Furious star took part in the 1990 Commonwealth Games and the 1992 World Championships. He was inducted into the International Sports Hall of Fame in 2014. 3 Little Britain’s Britain Got Talent star and judge David Walliams swam the length of the Thames for Sport Relief in 2011, finishing at the Houses of Parliament in the heart of London after 140 miles in just eight days. He also swam the English Channel for the charity in 2006 and the Strait of Gibraltar, from Spain to Morocco with James Cracknall in 2008.
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The most famous Olympic swimmer is American Michael Phelps who has won 28 medals including 23 gold. He began swimming when he was seven and once said: “Swimming is normal for me. I’m relaxed. I’m comfortable and I know my surroundings. It’s my home.” 4 Screen legend and Oscar winner Clint Eastwood taught lifeguard training classes in the early 1950s and dug swimming pools before finding fame in long-running TV show Rawhide and then films like The Good The Bad And The Ugly, Dirty Harry and Any Which Way You Can, before turning his hand to directing. 10 One of James Bond star Sir Sean Connery’s early jobs was as a lifeguard before he found fame as 007. He did a stint at Portobello’s open-air pool in Edinburgh. A fellow swimmer at the Portobello fondly recalled how girls would “flock” around the young Connery with his open-neck lifeguard shirt, white trousers and tanned skin.