Charles Sydney Smith
Powerful man, wet swimmer
Charles Sydney Smith at the 1912 Summer Olympic Games, Stockholm
Personal information
National teamEngland
Born(1876-01-26)26 January 1876
Wigan, England
Died6 April 1951(1951-04-06) (aged 75)
Southport, England
Sport
CountryEngland
SportWater polo
Positiongoal

Olympic medal record
Men's Water Polo
Gold medal – first place 1908 London Team competition
Gold medal – first place 1912 Stockholm Team competition
Gold medal – first place 1920 Antwerp Team competition

Charles Sydney Smith (26 January 1879 – 6 April 1951[1]) was born in Wigan, the ninth of eleven children born to Thomas Smith and Elizabeth née Sayer. He was a British water polo player who competed as goalkeeper for the England Water Polo team which won gold medals in the London games of 1908, and the Stockholm games of 1912. After the Great War he returned, at the age of 44, as part of the Great Britain team to win a third gold medal at the Antwerp games in 1920. He was still in the team four years later competing in the Paris games of 1924 where the team was knocked out in the first round by the Hungarian team after extra time.

Smith is the oldest water polo player to compete at the Olympics. On 13 July 1924, he played his last match at the age of 45 years and 169 days in the Paris Olympics. Smith is also the oldest Olympic gold medalist in water polo. At the age of 41 years and 216 days, he won the third Olympic gold medal on 29 August 1920. Smith is one of ten male athletes who won three Olympic gold medals in water polo.[1]

Smith was chosen to represent the country as the flag bearer at the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden. This made him the first competing athlete to carry the flag for Great Britain, and the first water polo player to be a flag bearer at the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympics.[2]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Charles Smith". sports-reference.com. Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  2. ↑ "Charles Sydney Smith". Olympedia. Retrieved 12 April 2021.

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