Entertainment

Famous Celebrity Athletes Who Were Olympians: Noel Harrison, Caitlyn Jenner and More

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Aug 10, 2024 / 8101 Views

Evan Walker

Top athletes from around the world comPete in several disciplines at the Olympics and the support they receive from fans is no less than celebrities. The likes of Simone Biles, Michael Phelps and Neeraj Chopra have aptly gained the status of Celebrity athletes and have become household names.

Although it is common knowledge that comPeting in the Olympics is not child’s play, many people continue to underestimate the kind of dedication, focus and talent an athlete needs to even qualify in the comPetitive world of elite athletics. From training 16 hours a day to adhering to diets, athletes willingly go to extremes to maximise their performance.

While such perseverance and hard work are expected from athletes dedicating their whole lives to a sport, it is not exactly common to hear a film star or music icon trying out for the Olympics. However, interestingly, there is a surprising number of film stars, singers and celebrities who have participated in the Olympics.

Additionally, there are also quite a few celebrities, who harboured Olympic dreams and came close to fulfilling them. K-pop idol Jackson Wang (fencing), supermodel Bella Hadid (equestrian categories) and Australian singer and actor Cody Simpson (swimming) are among the celebrities who tried their hands at becoming Olympians but couldn’t qualify.

On that note, take a look at every popular celebrity — from Johnny Weissmuller to Noel Harrison — who succeeded in qualifying to compete, and represented their countries as Olympic athletes.

These celebrity athletes were also Olympians

1. Harold Sakata

Toshiyuki Sakata, known by his stage name Harold Sakata, was an American Olympic weightlifter and a professional wrestler, who also acted in several films. He also became renowned by his ring name Tosh Togo. Sakata represented the United States at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London in weightlifting and won a silver medal.

Sakata lifted a total of 380 kg in the light-heavyweight division to secure a silver medal for the US. American weightlifter Stanley Stanczyk won the gold. Impressively, Sakata also served in the U.S. Army with the 1399th Engineer Construction Battalion during World War II.

Thanks to his heavy-built and intimidating gaze, Bond producers Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli took notice of Harold Sakata. Sakata had no theatrical experience but did a phenomenal job as a bodyguard to Bond villain Auric Goldfinger.

His performance as Oddjob in the famous Bond film Goldfinger (1964), turned him into a household name. Thanks to the role’s popularity, he went on to do similar roles throughout his career as Harold ‘Oddjob’ Sakata.

Sakata’s filmography includes feature films like Mako: The Jaws of Death (1976), The Happy Hooker Goes to Washington (1977), Impulse (1974), Dimension 5 (1966) and more.

2. Caitlyn Jenner

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Guess not all Kardashian-Jenners are talentless. Caitlyn Jenner, who was known as Bruce Jenner until 2015, came out as a trans woman in the same year by admitting to dealing with gender dysphoria since her youth. Apart from her popularity for being Kris Kardashian’s partner and father of models Kendall and Kylie Jenner, Caitlyn is also known for being an Olympic gold medallist.

Caitlyn Jenner contributed significantly to American sports history as a decathlete — a combined event consisting of 10 track and field events. Despite having a brief six-year-long decathlon career, Jenner set several world records and won many accolades for the US in international tournaments.

At the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany, Jenner placed 10th in the decathlon. This only motivated her to train hard for the next four years. She won a gold medal at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal and gained the title of ‘an all-American hero’.

Jenner also set a new world record at the 1500-meter event with a score of 8,618 points. She defeated the event favourite, Soviet Leonid Litvinenko. Interestingly, it was Jenner who started the tradition of winning athletes doing the victory lap with their country’s flag at the Olympics. After winning the gold, she took an American flag from a spectator and carried it during the victory lap.

The reality star was conferred with the James E. Sullivan Award along with the title of Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year in 1976. She was also inducted into multiple Hall of Fames including the United States National Track and Field Hall of Fame (1980), the Olympic Hall of Fame (1986) and the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame (1994) among others.

Jenner’s Olympic fame helped her transition into the media industry and businesses. She bagged several brand endorsements as well as roles in television series like co-hosting the daytime talk show America Alive! in 1978. She made her first film appearance in Can’t Stop the Music (1980) and went on to star in over 160 episodes of Keeping Up with the Kardashians.

3. Johnny Weissmuller

Another celebrity who competed among top Olympic athletes was Johnny Weissmuller, an Austro-Hungarian-born American Olympic swimmer and water polo player. After winning a couple of Olympic medals and setting world records, he went on to play Tarzan in 12 feature films from 1932 to 1948.

Weissmuller enjoyed an enviable career as an athlete. He had one of the best competitive swimming records of the 20th century. Weissmuller clinched gold at his Olympics debut in the 100-meter freestyle by beating the Hawaiian swimmer Duke Kahanamoku at the 1924 Summer Olympics. The multi-talented athlete was also a part of the U.S. men’s national water polo team that won a bronze medal.

He brought home two more golds in the 400 m freestyle event as well as the 4×200 m freestyle event. Four years later, at the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam, Weissmuller won two gold medals in the 100 m freestyle and the 4×200 m freestyle.

To sum up his magnificent titles, Weissmuller won five gold and one bronze Olympic medal. He also won 52 United States national championships and set a staggering 67 world records in his career. After retiring as an athlete, Weissmuller made his film debut in the 1929 film Glorifying the American Girl as Adonis.

He went on to star in 16 Jungle Jim films over eight years along with starring in the Jungle Jim TV series (1955) before retiring in 1957.

4. Hillary Wolf

The 1990 Macaulay Culkin-starrer Home Alone is a Christmas classic. But did you know one of the 11 kids in the film went on to become an Olympian in real life? Judoka Hillary Wolf played the role of Kevin’s sister Megan in the Home Alone series.

After winning the world judo championships for juniors in 1994, Celebrity-turned-athlete Hillary Wolf represented the US at the 1996 Summer Olympics and the 2000 Summer Olympics. Unfortunately, she did not have a prolific career as a judoka. Wolf managed to reach the quarterfinals at the 1996 Summer Olympics in the women’s 48 kg comPetition. In 2000, she failed to reach the second round in the women’s 52 kg comPetition.

As for her career as an actress, Hillary Wolf appeared in films like Big Girls Don’t Cry… They Get Even (1992) and Waiting for the Light (1990) apart from the Home Alone series. She was also seen as a child actress in television shows like A Matter of Principle (1084), Sunday Drive (1986) and more.

Wolf is currently living away from the limelight with her family in Colorado. Along with her husband Chris Saba, she started a wrestling club called Rocky Mountain Wrestling Club in 2004, keeping her fire as an athlete alive.

5. Noel Harrison

The son of Oscar-winning actor Sir Rex Harrison, Noel Harrison was a man of many talents. He sang, acted and also, represented his country at the Olympic games. As a teenager, he competed in all three alpine events at the 1952 Winter Games in Oslo as a part of the Great Britain ski team. However, the team did not win any medals.

Harrison returned to try out his luck at the 1956 Winter Olympics in Cortina d’Ampezzo. Unfortunately, an Olympic medal was just not on the cards for Harrison.

However, he did enjoy a prolific career as a singer and as an actor. Some of his famous songs are “A Young Girl (Of Sixteen)” and “The Windmills of Your Mind” among others. He went on to star in feature films like Hot Enough for June (1964), The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders (1965), Take a Girl Like You (1970) and more.

6. Bob Anderson

Bob Anderson (born Robert James Gilbert Anderson) was an English Olympic fencer and fight choreographer. He was considered a rare fencer who seamlessly transitioned his athletic career into show business by choreographing sword-fighting sequences in movies.

Anderson represented Britain at the Helsinki 1952 Summer Olympic Games as a fencer. Unfortunately, he did not have any luck winning a medal for his country.

According to his page on the official Olympics website, Anderson was often uncredited for his roles. He entered show Business by teaching Errol Flynn to sword fight for The Master of Ballantrae in 1952. He famously played Darth Vader in a fight scene with the lightsaber in the first Star Wars movie (1977).

Some of his popular works as a stunt performer and/or fight choreographer are The Guns of Navarone (1961), From Russia With Love (1963) and Casino Royale (1967).

(Hero and Featured Image Credits: Noel Harrison, Harold Sakata and Caitlyn Jenner/ IMDb)

This story first appeared on Augustman Malaysia.