"Unbroken" a movie of the life story of Louis Zamperini, Olympian, bombardier shot down in the Pacific, and prisoner of war in Japan

 Laura Hillenbrand wrote Unbroken over the course of 7 years, and 70+ interviews, the biography of an extraordinary U.S. Army Air Force officer, Louie Zamperini, who was shot down over the Pacific, chased by sharks while floating for more than a month on a raft, and imprisoned in a hellish Japanese POW camp. Amazingly, the guy survived it all and lived to 93. Before the war, he was a track start that set a record in the 1936 Olympics

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20440835,00.html

Zamperini was a world-class distance runner by the time he graduated from Torrance High School. His athleticism won him a track scholarship to USC, and at 19 years old, a spot on the 1936 US Olympic team.
http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2014/07/03/louis-zamperini-1936-olympian-world-war-ii-pow-dies-at-97/