Farid Simaika

Farid Simaika (فريد سميكة 12 June 1907 – 11 Sep 1943) was an Olympic diver who competed for Egypt.

Early life
Simaika was born in Alexandria.

Swimming career
Simaika competed in both the men's springboard and platform events at the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam. After the final round of the platform competition, Simaika was declared the gold medal winner over divers Pete Desjardins and Mickey Galitzen of the United States. As Simaika was standing atop the podium accepting his gold medal, with the Egyptian national anthem playing, the music suddenly stopped. Officials signaled that there had been an error in counting the judges' votes; while Simaika had the most total points, final scores were based on ordinals as the first method of placement ranking. Since Desjardins was ranked ahead of Simaika by four out of the five judges, he had six ordinals to Simaika's nine and a higher overall score. Desjardins was subsequently declared the gold-medal winner, and Simaika moved down to silver.

Desjardins, Galitzen, and Simaika also swept the podium in the springboard event at the same Olympics. Desjardins repeated as the gold medal winner, while Galitzen took silver and Simaika bronze. As of 2012, Simaika remains Egypt's only medalist in an aquatic event at the Olympic games.

In the United States, Simaika won three AAU platform and one one-meter springboard National Championships before turning professional.

Later career
Simaika turned professional to perform as a diver in various water-related stunt shows of the 1920s and 30s. He performed in the Billy Rose Aquacades show, which made swimming stars of Esther Williams, Eleanor Holm and Johnny Weissmuller. He also appeared at many World's Fair shows, including the Chicago Century of Progress as well as appearances in Cleveland and New York. Simaka's high diving act included twice daily 66-foot tower dives at the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto.

In Hollywood, Simaika was a stunt double in the 1931 film Seas Beneath and performed with Dutch Smith in a blindfolded, tandem high-diving act for an MGM Pete Smith special.

War service and death
Simaika became a U.S. citizen in 1942, and served as a pilot with the United States Army Air Forces during World War II. He was shot down over Makassar in Indonesia on September 11, 1943. He was presumed dead upon impact, although rumors persisted that he had been killed by head-hunters (with his head found suspended by strings through each ear).

Simaika was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.