Takashi "Halo" Hirose (Japanese: 廣瀬 隆,[1] 1923–2002) was an American competitive swimmer.
He set that record in 1938 in Germany as a member of the United States's 4 × 100 m freestyle relay team, and also won the National AAU's 800-meter freestyle relay championship in 1941 in record time.
[4] Hirose was considered a superstar in the 1930s and trained for the Olympics in 1940 and 1944, but was unable to participate due to their cancellation during World War II.
[5][3] He was paralyzed for a period from the hips down due to trench foot during a deployment to France in the war; it was feared that he would lose his feet.
[3] After the war ended he attended Ohio State University, where he was an All-American three times, was an NCAA champion in the 100 free, and helped Ohio State win Big Ten, NCAA, and AAU team titles.