Romanian City Makes Most of Tarzan Link

Tarzan, the famous ape man, was known for many abilities, including incredible strength, speed, endurance - and swimming.

Those same abilities will be on show at a series of theatre and sports events planned in the city of Timisoara in western Romania, celebrating the life of the former Olympic swimmer and actor Johnny Weissmuller, who played the role of Tarzan in movies in the 1930s and was born in the city.

Weissmuller, an ethnic German Romanian, was born in 1904 in Freidorf, a district of Timisoara, when the city and surrounding land was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. His family emigrated to the US  the year he was born.

"We want to celebrate the free spirit of Tarzan by organising a series of events called Tarzaniada. We plan theatre performances, but also a contest of archery, jumping over a swimming pool using a liana, and a Tarzan shouting competition," Vlad Garboni, from the Students' Culture House organisation, told the local "Banatul Azi" newspaper.

A duathlon contest - including running and swimming - is also to be organised in Timisoara.
"We have the right to use the name Johnny Weissmuller only for the biathlon competition, but we hope to get the right to use it for some other events," Constantin Dumitra, who is to organising this competition, said.

Meanwhile another local organisation wants to use Tarzan's name to brand its a tourist offer, which will involve a tour of Timisoara starting at the place where Weissmuller was born.

Weissmuller was a champion swimmer in the early 1930s, winning five gold medals for the US at the Olympics as well as 67 world champion titles. He never lost a race in his career.

After retiring from champion swimming, he started his acting career...