Canadian Olympic Gold Medal Swimmer. He is remembered for winning the two longer freestyle swimming gold medals at the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden, in the only categories he competed, and was Canada's only Olympic gold medal winner in swimming until Alex Baumann won two gold medals at the 1984. He never had a swimming lesson or coach, and attributed his swimming success to his natural physical condition. He attended McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, where he excelled in swimming and water polo. As Canada's lone swimmer at the 1912 Olympics, he won with times of 5:24.4s in the 400 meter and 22:00.0s in the 1500 meter freestyle. It was for the 1500 meter Olympic championship and Hodgson broke world and Olympic records for 1000 yards and meters, and 1 mile in addition to the prescribed 1500 meter race distance. His unprecedented success was widely attributed to his innovation of the trudgen stroke, a hybrid between the front crawl and sidestroke. His Olympic record at 400 meters stood until 1924 when Johnny Weissmuller broke it at Amsterdam. During the 3 years he swam competitively, including the 1912 Olympics, he never lost a race. Following the Olympics, he retired from international competition. In 1916 he graduated from McGill with Bachelors Degree in Applied Science. He was inducted into the Canadian Amateur Sports Hall of Fame in 1949, the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1968, and into the McGill University Sports Hall of Fame in 1996. He died at the age of 89.
Canadian Olympic Gold Medal Swimmer. He is remembered for winning the two longer freestyle swimming gold medals at the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden, in the only categories he competed, and was Canada's only Olympic gold medal winner in swimming until Alex Baumann won two gold medals at the 1984. He never had a swimming lesson or coach, and attributed his swimming success to his natural physical condition. He attended McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, where he excelled in swimming and water polo. As Canada's lone swimmer at the 1912 Olympics, he won with times of 5:24.4s in the 400 meter and 22:00.0s in the 1500 meter freestyle. It was for the 1500 meter Olympic championship and Hodgson broke world and Olympic records for 1000 yards and meters, and 1 mile in addition to the prescribed 1500 meter race distance. His unprecedented success was widely attributed to his innovation of the trudgen stroke, a hybrid between the front crawl and sidestroke. His Olympic record at 400 meters stood until 1924 when Johnny Weissmuller broke it at Amsterdam. During the 3 years he swam competitively, including the 1912 Olympics, he never lost a race. Following the Olympics, he retired from international competition. In 1916 he graduated from McGill with Bachelors Degree in Applied Science. He was inducted into the Canadian Amateur Sports Hall of Fame in 1949, the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1968, and into the McGill University Sports Hall of Fame in 1996. He died at the age of 89.
Bio by: The Silent Forgotten
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