Tomás Valdemar Hintnaus

Tomás Valdemar "Tom" Hintnaus (born February 15, 1958) is a retired Brazilian-born pole vaulter, model, and actor. Although he is an American citizen, he represented his native country, Brazil, in the Olympic Games following the American boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics.

Tomás Valdemar Hintnaus
Medal record
Men's athletics
Representing  Brazil
Pan American Games
Bronze medal – third place 1983 Caracas Pole vault
Representing  United States
Olympic Boycott Games
Gold medal – first place 1980 Philadelphia Pole vault

He is the son of Czech immigrants, Lubomir and Marianne Hintnaus, who escaped from their home country to West Germany, but were unable to emigrate directly to the United States. As an intermediate stop, they moved first to Brazil, where Tom was born. They moved to the United States in 1960 when he was two.

Competition

Hintnaus attended the now closed Aviation High School in Redondo Beach, California. He won the CIF California State Meet in 1976.[1] As an American citizen, he won the pole vault with a jump of 5.60 m (18 ft 4+1⁄2 in) at the 1980 United States Olympic Trials, but missed the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow due to the American boycott.[2] He rejected an opportunity to represent his native country, Brazil, at the 1980 Olympics; instead, he represented the United States at the Liberty Bell Classic (Olympic Boycott Games), where he won.[3] Hintnaus was one of 461 recipients of a Congressional Gold Medal created especially for the spurned athletes.[4] Hintnaus changed his mind later and joined the Brazilian team in 1983.[5][6]

For Brazil, he finished fifth at the 1983 World Championships,[7] won the bronze medal at the 1983 Pan American Games,[8] and no-heighted in the final at the 1984 Olympic Games,[9] held less than 12 miles (20 km) from the neighborhood where he grew up.

His personal best was 5.76 metres, achieved in August 1985 in Zürich.[7] This is a former South American record. It was broken by countryfellow Fábio Gomes da Silva in 2007.[5]

Advertising

Hintnaus is also known as the first model in the underwear advertising campaign of designer Calvin Klein. The photograph by Bruce Weber of Hintnaus in white briefs, leaning against a thickly white-washed chimney on Santorini Island in Greece, became the iconic image of "male as sex object" in the 1980s. American Photographer magazine named the photo as one of "10 Pictures That Changed America."[10]

I worked so hard to be the best pole vaulter in the world and I ended up being more well known for putting on a pair of briefs.[11]

Acting

Hintnaus appeared in the Hawaii Five-0 Season 4 episode, "Ha'uoli La Ho'omaika'i" as assassin Dante Barkov.[12] He also appeared in the 1981 slasher film Graduation Day as Pete McFarlin.

See also

References
  1. "California State Meet Results - 1915 to present". Hank Lawson. Retrieved 25 December 2012.
  2. Hymans, Richard (2008). "The History of the United States Olympic Trials – Track & Field" (PDF). USA Track & Field.
  3. "Olympic Boycott Games". GBR Athletics. Athletics Weekly. Retrieved 20 April 2012.
  4. Caroccioli, Tom; Caroccioli, Jerry (2008). Boycott: Stolen Dreams of the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games. Highland Park, IL: New Chapter Press. pp. 243–253. ISBN 978-0942257403.
  5. Biscayart, Eduardo (4 January 2008). "Gomes da Silva lands Brazil on the international Pole Vault map". IAAF.org. Retrieved 5 August 2016.
  6. "Sports World Specials: Multinational Vault". The New York Times. 1 August 2008. Retrieved 5 August 2016.
  7. Tomas Valdemar Hintnaus at World Athletics
  8. "Pan American Games". GBR Athletics. Athletics Weekly. Retrieved 20 April 2012.
  9. "Tom Hintnaus". Sports-Reference.com. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 20 April 2012.
  10. "10 Pictures that Changed America". American Photographer. January 1989. pp. 30–36. Retrieved 7 May 2013.
  11. "Archives". Los Angeles Times. 7 May 2007.
  12. "50undercover.com". www.50undercover.com.
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