Adolph Kiefer, the 100-meter backstroke champion at the 1936 Berlin Games who was America’s oldest living Olympic gold medalist in any sport, has died. He was 98.
He died Friday at his home in Wadsworth, Illinois, about 50 miles north of Chicago, according to the International Swimming Hall of Fame. It said Kiefer had been hospitalized with pneumonia in recent months.
He had neuropathy that kept him confined to a wheelchair later in life, but he continued swimming because he could still stand in the water, according to the Hall of Fame in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Kiefer became an Olympic champion as a 17-year-old in an Olympic-record time that stood for 20 years.