Otto Herschmann was member of the Austrian team of swimmers at the First Olympic Games in Athens in 1896. He won the bronze medal in the 100 metres freestyle event. Otto Herschmann competed in the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm and won a silver medal in Team Sabre (fencing). He also served as the President of the Austrian Olympic Committee at the 1912 games – the only president of a national committee to win an Olympic medal while in office. Otto Herschmann served as President of the Austrian Federation of Swimming Associations from 1914 to 1932. Otto Herschmann was arrested in 1942 in Vienna and deported to and then murdered in the Nazi extermination camp of Sobibor.