1924: Johnny Weissmuller advanced to Olympics at Broad Ripple Park Pool trials

INDIANAPOLIS — We are just days away from the 2024 Olympic Swim Trials and in 1924, those very same Olympic trials were held at Broad Ripple Park Pool.

“An Olympic champion, the old black and white Tarzan and a patriot,” Adam Weissmuller, Johnny Weissmuller’s grandson, said.

Photos provided by Weissmuller

100-years-ago, Johnny Weissmuller dazzled the hearts of those who watched the 1924 Olympic Trials at Broad Ripple Park Pool.

“He swam in a weird style with his head out of the water and he did that because he learned how to swim in the lakes,” Weissmuller said.

Photos provided by Weissmuller

Johnny Weissmuller qualified for the Olympics in the 100-meter freestyle at the 1924 trials. He went on to win a gold medal, and historians say he set roughly 28 world records.

“17 years after his debut in 1924 Olympics, he broke his own world record,” Weissmuller told WRTV.

Broad Ripple Park Pool is also where local historian Sampson Levingston is running his walk and talk tours.

“The remnant of the pool is here, once the largest concrete pool in the world,” Levingston said.

The founder of Through2Eyes is running his walk and talk tours through the U.S. Olympic Swim Trials and it will include everything about the history of swimming here in Indianapolis and beyond.

“In 1952, one of the ladies who graduated from Broad Ripple High School qualified for the Olympics at the neighborhood pool," Levingston said. "When you put pools in neighborhoods, where you give people access to swimming, they normally become good swimmers."

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So, 100 years later and the Olympic Trials are back in the Circle City, this time at a much larger venue. However, the legend of Johnny Weissmuller will always be traced back to Indy.

“I think he would say never quit, just keep going — that would be his message,” Weissmuller said.

Photos provided by Weissmuller

To learn more about the walk and talk tours, or to sign up, click here .