Rulers of the Olympics

12" Wooden Ruler made in U.S.A. of American-grown basswood. This ruler lists Americans who have had particular success at the Olympic Games, both Summer and Winter. There are of course many great American Olympians, so we had to make some choices. An interesting figure is Johnny Weissmuller, who won 5 gold medals in swimming and a bronze medal in water polo at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris and the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam. Weissmuller came to the United States as an immigrant at the tender age of 7 months. When he was 9 years old, he contracted polio, and took up swimming to help combat the disease. After retiring from swimming, he played the role of Tarzan in 12 feature films, and was the first actor to be associated with the now traditional yodeling Tarzan yell. Muhammad Ali was not yet using that name when he won boxing gold in the light heavyweight division at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome. He was born Cassius Marcellus Clay, and didn’t change his name until 1964.