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. 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. As an American citizen, he won the pole vault with a jump of 5.60 m (18 ft in) at the 1980 United States Olympic Trials, but missed the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow due to the American boycott. 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. Hintnaus was one of 461 recipients of a Congressional Gold Medal created