- Michael Galitzen
-
Olympic medalist
Riley and Duke Kahanamoku in 1927.Medal record Men’s diving Competitor for the United States Gold 1932 Los Angeles 3 m springboard Silver 1928 Amsterdam 3 m springboard Silver 1932 Los Angeles 10 m platform Bronze 1928 Amsterdam 10 m platform Michael Riley Galitzen, also known as Mickey Riley (September 6, 1909, Los Angeles, California – June 6, 1959, Hollywood, California) was an American diver who won four total medals, one gold, at the 1928 Summer Olympics and 1932 Summer Olympics.
Galitzen was a native of southern California, and won acclaim both for his individual diving and as a tandem diver with his brother John. He won two medals in diving at Amsterdam in 1928 as Michael Galitzen. In 1931, he began calling himself Mickey Riley, and won gold and silver medals in Los Angeles in 1932 under that name. After the Olympics, he worked as a film editor, and he and John appeared frequently in diving shows. He was found dead in his Hollywood apartment in 1959; the death was attributed to natural causes.
Galitzen was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1977.
External links
- International Swimming Hall of Fame profile
- Hickoksports.com profile
- New York Times obituary, June 11, 1959 (subscription required)
Olympic Diving Champions in Men's 3 metre Springboard 1908: Albert Zürner (GER) • 1912: Paul Günther (GER) • 1920: Louis Kuehn (USA) • 1924: Albert White (USA) • 1928: Pete Desjardins (USA) • 1932: Michael Galitzen (USA) • 1936: Richard Degener (USA) • 1948: Bruce Harlan (USA) • 1952: David Browning (USA) • 1956: Bob Clotworthy (USA) • 1960: Gary Tobian (USA) • 1964: Kenneth Sitzberger (USA) • 1968: Bernard Wrightson (USA) • 1972: Vladimir Vasin (RUS) • 1976: Phil Boggs (USA) • 1980: Aleksandr Portnov (RUS) • 1984 – 1988: Greg Louganis (USA) • 1992: Mark Lenzi (USA) • 1996 – 2000: Xiong Ni (CHN) • 2004: Peng Bo (CHN) • 2008: He Chong (CHN)
Categories:- 1909 births
- 1959 deaths
- People from Los Angeles, California
- American divers
- Olympic divers of the United States
- Divers at the 1928 Summer Olympics
- Divers at the 1932 Summer Olympics
- Olympic gold medalists for the United States
- Olympic silver medalists for the United States
- Olympic bronze medalists for the United States
- Olympic medalists in diving
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.