The Amateur Athletic Union held its first swim race in Hawaii in 1911, where Duke Kahanamoku shattered the world record by whole seconds. “Hawaiians came into this excited for national recognition, but Duke gave them the world spotlight.”
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TRANSCRIPT
- [Narrator] This was the first time the prestigious Amateur Athletic Union would hold a race on the islands.
So for the Hawaiian elites, this was an opportunity to finally be recognized by the rest of the country.
But for Duke, he was just there to have some fun.
- You know, you don't know, you got no idea.
They lived down here.
They fished, they surfed, they kayak.
But it's not like they went out there to do swim races.
So now they tell somebody, 'I want even to swim against this guy.'
Well, what for, let's see how fast he is.
Swim as fast as you can over there.
Oh, okay. Whatever, you know.
A waterman, he's gonna be playing in the water.
(pensive music) (water splashing) - This is not a time period in which people are groomed from childhood to be Olympic stars.
That hadn't happened yet.
So Duke innately has the swimming talent.
Plus he's got a body that will work well for swimming.
- That's exactly the way it was, it's natural for him.
And so when he jumped in and swam, he had to swim faster than himself.
It wasn't about the other person.
I don't think he ever thought anything about it.
He just had to be faster than himself.
(uplifting music) - It's his home turf.
I mean, he knew those waters better than pretty much any person alive.
And it was about, I'm gonna beat these guys.
- [Narrator] There were two races that day, Duke didn't just break both records, he shattered them.
Hawaiians came into this excited for national recognition, but Duke gave them a world spotlight.
- We're talking seconds in a race that takes seconds.
And literally in a minute and a half, he changed the direction of his life.
He was now on the world stage, even though the world wasn't ready for him.
- Most people don't believe it.
And they're like, how, what is this?
Who is this brown guy?
And the currents must have been helping him or the weather.
There's no way this is legitimate.
- It's so abbreviated from what the existing records are, that once the information gets back to the US mainland people say, 'no, no, no, no, no, that can't be possible.
This guy couldn't have done it.
He couldn't have done it that quickly.'