George Larson was a man of many athletic talents. In order to gain a full understanding of his achievements throughout his lifetime, one must start at the beginning. While a young child, George started swimming lessons at the Jimmy Thompson Memorial Pool, which had been constructed for the 1930 British Empire Games. At this time, he was around the age of 13 or 14. In a previous interview, George recalled that swimming was easy for him to pick up because of his “oar-like arms and his attention to deep breathing[Oliver, 2004].” The fact that he picked up swimming so fast earned him a place at the 1932 Los Angeles games. This was only the beginning of his swimming career. His debut at the 1932 Los Angeles games won him a fourth place finish with the 4x100 relay team, as well as the title of Canadian 100 yard champion. He followed this great debut in 1932 with his participation in the 1934 British Empire games where he earned one gold medal and three silver medals, and the 1934 British Empire games where he won a gold medal as a part of the 800 yard freestyle relay team. Following these achievements, Larson anchored the 4x100 relay team, consisting of Pirie, Gazelle, Burleigh, Larson, which set a world record. Up until this point in his career, nothing was able to stop him. However, in 1936 Larson went to the Berlin Olympics thinking he had what it took to do very well, possibly even the best he had done yet, but he didn’t even make it out of the first heat of 100m swimmers. At this point, his career looked like it was coming to an end. Was he just past his prime, and no longer had what it took to be an Olympic swimmer? Medical appointments and examinations would answer this question.

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