From a 1920s American heartthrob swimmer to the famous Black Power podium salute, here are stunning images from new book The Last Heroes that capture the most tense and historic Olympic moments. When the Olympic torches are lit in Paris on 26 July, the 206 participating countries will continue an ancient tradition, revived after a 1500-year pause when Athens staged the world's first modern Olympics. It's this event in 1896, attended by just 241 athletes, running in lanes delineated by rope and swimming in the Bay of Zea, that is the starting point for a new photographic history of the Summer Olympics.
Published by Assouline, The Last Heroes – 100 Moments of Olympics Legend pays homage to history's most extraordinary Olympians, and chronicles each Olympiad's most unforgettable moments. Here are 10 of its most iconic images. Paris last hosted the Olympics in 1924, when Johnny Weissmuller, the first swimmer to break the minute barrier for the 100m, won three gold medals and one bronze for the USA.
Born into a German family in Hungary, Weissmuller was still a baby when, in 1905, the family boarded a boat to Ellis Island, New York to start a new life. Painted here by John Hubbard Rich for the Olympic Arts Competition (an event that ran from 1912 to 1948), this celebrity who had risen out of poverty became an emblem of athletic beauty and the American dream. His heartthrob credentials were cemented when he landed the lead in Tarzan the Ape Man in 1932, a role he reprised 11 times.
