Benito Juarez
92% Profile Match
Agence Rol (photographer not named), 1920, Bibliotheque nationale de France, Gallica, public domain · Press photograph 'Ile des cygnes, 5/9/20, [Duke] Kahanamoku' by Agence Rol (glass negative, Paris, 5 September 1920), Bibliotheque nationale de France, Gallica, ark:/12148/btv1b53051776b. The 6103 x 8702 pixel scan was cropped to the sitter's head and torso and downscaled to 978 x 1200 with no upscaling. · Public domain: Bibliotheque nationale de France states 'domaine public' for this 1920 Agence Rol press photograph (individual photographer not named)
athlete · 20th Century
Duke Kahanamoku
1890–1968
Known For
athleticcultural
Not yet included in personality matching — the documented evidence doesn't yet cover enough of the personality model. Everything else on this page is fully available.
Trait Constellation
Key Achievements
He won the Olympic 100 m freestyle in 1912 and 1920 and set world records, collecting five Olympic medals (three gold, two silver) between 1912 and 1924.
He is credited with spreading surfing around the world through exhibitions, including in Australia in 1914-15, and Olympedia lists him as the first athlete inducted into both the swimming and surfing halls of fame.
In June 1925 he paddled his surfboard to the capsized fishing boat Thelma at Newport Beach and, in repeated trips, brought eight men to shore.
Moments That Reveal Them
When the AAU initially refused to recognise his 1911 world-record times, he went to the mainland to be tested, with the trip paid for by Hawaiian supporters, and won the 1912 Olympic 100 m.
This is consistent with continuing after officials doubted his results. Persistence
At Newport Beach in 1925 he saw the fishing boat Thelma capsize and, on his own surfboard, made repeated trips to the wreck while others ran to fetch boards.
This is consistent with acting quickly in an emergency. Decisiveness
Turning Points
Amateur rules kept him from earning money from swimming, and in 1922 he moved to Los Angeles to look for film work, where he found many small roles.
This is consistent with finding a new line of work when the old one could not support him. Adaptability
Similar People
People whose overall profiles resemble theirs.
Bette Davis
87% Profile Match
Octavia Butler
81% Profile Match
Miriam Makeba
77% Profile Match
Miles Davis
76% Profile Match
Harriet Tubman
76% Profile Match
Opposite Profile
Not a rival — a different profile shape worth a look.
Leonardo da Vinci
15% Profile Match
Sources
- Duke Kahanamoku (Q123688), verified live via the Wikidata API (2026-11-05): description 'American swimmer, surfer and actor (1890-1968)', Korean label 듀크 카하나모쿠, birth 24 August 1890, death 22 January 1968. Orientation only; not used as support for any row.
- Olympedia, 'Duke Kahanamoku' (Olympic results database and biography; read in full). CANONICAL SIGNIFICANCE SOURCE (with the hall-of-fame biography below): Hawaiian swimmer who set world records in the early 1910s and won the Olympic 100 m freestyle in 1912 and 1920; results table 1912 Stockholm 100 m gold and 4x200 m relay silver, 1920 Antwerp 100 m gold, 4x200 m relay gold and water polo fourth, 1924 Paris 100 m silver (three gold and two silver in all); beaten in 1924 by Johnny Weissmuller; acted in Hollywood films, one of which helped popularise surfing; listed as first athlete inducted into the International Halls of Fame for both swimming and surfing.
- International Swimming Hall of Fame, 'Duke Kahanamoku' (inductee biography; read). Gives the 1912 gold in 63 2/5 seconds, the 1920 gold in the 100 m and relay after Australia protested the first 100 m swim and he had to swim it again, the 1924 silver, the world records set in Honolulu Harbor on 2 August 1911 that the AAU initially refused to recognise, and his credited role in introducing surfing around the world including Australia. Hall-of-fame text: admiring, institutional.
- PBS American Masters (WNET), 'Duke Kahanamoku: biography and life timeline' (read). Timeline: 1911 record in Honolulu Harbor, 1914 surfing on the US Atlantic coast, 1918 swimming exhibitions in 30 mainland cities to raise money for the war effort, 1922 move to Los Angeles to act and small Hollywood roles, 14 June 1925 rescue of eight men from the capsized Thelma at Newport Beach, and the barriers he met as a Native Hawaiian athlete. Documentary-series companion page; no named author; admiring in tone.
- Lindsay Parks Pieper, review of David Davis, 'Waterman: The Life and Times of Duke Kahanamoku', Sport in American History, 23 January 2016 (read in full). A sport historian's critical review: his exclusion from the whites-only Outrigger Canoe Club and the founding of the Hui Nalu club, the AAU's questioning of his 1911 times and the mainland test paid for by Hawaiian locals, amateur rules that barred him from earning money from swimming, the odd jobs and the Hollywood roles limited by stereotypes, and the review's criticism of the book's depth. Independent of the biographer, but a second-hand account of the same biography.
- Mindy Pennybacker, 'Ambassador of aloha', Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 15 November 2015 (review of the Davis biography; read in full). Local newspaper review recording that he refused a Honolulu swim meet because paddling had left him out of swimming shape, was attacked in print and filed a libel suit, that civic leaders bought him a house held in trust, his later jobs, and his generosity and humility as the biography presents them. Same biography as the Pieper review, so the two are not independent of each other.
- Surf Research (surfresearch.com.au), '1914 Duke notes' (Australian surf-history research compilation citing contemporary newspapers; read). COUNTER-VOICE and corrective: the 1914-15 visit was mainly a swimming tour; the Freshwater surfing exhibition was on 24 December 1914 (not 23 December); he shaped the Freshwater board and at least two others; he was not Australia's first board rider and the Freshwater board was not the first full-size board there; the notes do not record him formally teaching anyone. Unsigned research notes, not a narrative biography.
- Northern Beaches Council, Manly Art Gallery & Museum, collection story 'Duke' (read). Records his 1914-15 visit to Sydney's northern beaches with swimming and surfing demonstrations, the board he built from sugar pine, and the 24 December 1914 appearance at Freshwater captured in Frank Bell's photograph, 'widely considered' a seminal episode in Australian surfing.
- Christopher Trela, Newport Beach Independent, 23 September 2025, article on the plaque honouring the 1925 Thelma rescue (read). Says he was camped on the beach, paddled his surfboard to the capsized fishing boat and made repeated trips, rescuing eight men; other rescuers saved four more and five men died; the account of the rescue is given by local historian Paul Burnett; the plaque effort followed David Davis's biography.
- Bibliotheque nationale de France, Gallica, 'Ile des cygnes, 5/9/20, [Duke] Kahanamoku: photographie de presse' (Agence Rol, glass negative; SRU catalogue record read). Portrait source record for the image used; catalogue subject 'Kahanamoku, Duke (1890-1968) -- Portraits', Paris, 5 September 1920, rights 'domaine public'.