Farid Simaika

Farid Simaika (Arabic فريد سميكة, DMG Farid Simaika; born June 12, 1907 in Alexandria, † September 11, 1943 in Makassar on Sulawesi ) was an Egyptian diver who won two Olympic medals in 1928.

Simaika studied and trained in the United States. At the Olympic Games in Amsterdam in 1928, he finished in the art of jumping to third place behind the two Americans Pete Desjardins and Michael Galitzen. Three days later, on August 11, the final took place in diving. Here Simaika received with 99.58 points, the highest score in front of Desjardins with 98.74 points and 92.34 points Galitzen with. At the presentation ceremony Simaika stood on the top of the podium, the Egyptian flag was hoisted for him and played the anthem. Only then it fell to the officials that under these rules the ranking should not be done after the score, but after the course number. The award ceremony was canceled and restarted, now Desjardins received gold, which had been placed by four judges before Simaika. Simaika received silver from Galitzen.

In the United States Simaika won three championships of the AAU from the tower and from the one-meter board. After the Olympic Games in 1928 Simaika occurred in show events with Johnny Weissmuller and therefore was considered a professional. Later he joined the Billy Rose Aquacades, a professional event where besides Weissmuller also stars as Esther Williams and Eleanor Holm occurred. 1931 Simaika was seen in the Hollywood film Seas Beneath a stuntman.

In 1942 Simaika to U.S. citizenship and joined the United States Air Force at. In 1943 he was shot down his plane over Sulawesi. According to some sources he was captured by head hunters and beheaded. Subsequently Simaika was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.

In 1982 Simaika was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in Fort Lauderdale.