Otto Wahle
He was born in Vienna, Austria only five years after Matthew Webb made his famous first crossing of the English Channel in 1875.  He was a very bright youngster and learned to speak the English language just as well as his native German tongue.  He became an accomplished swimmer, and at the age of 20, represented his country in the second Olympiad of 1900 in Paris, competing in the 200m Obstacle Event where competitors had to climb over a pole, clamber over a row of boats and swim under a row of boats. 
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