Charles Meldrum Daniels (March 24, 1885 – August 9, 1973)[1] was an American competition swimmer, eight-time Olympic medalist, and world record-holder in two freestyle swimming events.

Familiar with strong swimming, Charles's father Thomas often swam a half mile out to sea when the family vacationed in Long Island.

[4][5] Daniels began his swimming career around the age of 18 with the New York Athletic Club (NYAC) in 1903, where he was mentored by Hall of Fame Coach Gus Sundstrom.

[5][7] He helped develop the crawl technique by increasing the number of kicks per arm cycle to around six and rapidly regained his preeminence, soon breaking numerous records.

According to swimming lore, Sundstrom studied the technique of the American Indian Big Red Fish who used an overarm stroke with a thrashing kick, to improve on the Australian crawl.

[8] Four years later, at the 1908 Olympics in London, Daniels won gold in the 100-meter freestyle with a world record time of 1:05.6, defeating former rival Zoltan Halmay of Hungary, who touched six-tenths of a second after him to take the silver, and Harald Julin of Switzerland who took the bronze.

[11][10] In the 1906 Intercalated Games in Falirou, Peiraias, Athens, Greece, Daniels won the gold in the 100-meter freestyle with a final time of 1:13.0, touching before old rival Zoltan Halmay of Hungary.

He enjoyed hunting, was an excellent rifle shot, and travelled the world in search of big game, later filling his estate with animal head trophies.

[12] Following a long illness, Daniels died August 9, 1973 at his home in Carmel Valley, California, and was buried near where he spent much of his life at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Buffalo, New York.