August Heitmann won the 1926 European Championships with the 4×200 metres freestyle relay, also winning the 1927 Europeans in a world record time of 9:49.6. He also won national titles in 1926 and 1927 in the 100 freestyle. Born in Greece, Heitmann was living in Barcelona at the time of the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics, although he emigrated to Chile two years later. At the Olympics he was eliminated in the semi-finals of the 100 and in the preliminaries of the 4x200 relay when they were disqualified.