Francis Gailey
Personal information
Full nameFrancis Gailey
NationalityAmerican
Australian (disputed)
Born(1882-01-21)21 January 1882
Brisbane, Queensland
Died10 July 1972(1972-07-10) (aged 90)
Garden Grove, California
Sport
SportSwimming
StrokesFreestyle
ClubOlympic Club, San Francisco
Medal record
Men's swimming
Representing the  United States
Olympic Games
Silver medal – second place 1904 St. Louis 220 yard freestyle
Silver medal – second place 1904 St. Louis 440 yard freestyle
Silver medal – second place 1904 St. Louis 880 yard freestyle
Bronze medal – third place 1904 St. Louis 1 mile freestyle

Francis "Frank" Gailey (21 January 1882 – 10 July 1972) was an Australian-born American competition swimmer who swam in the 1904 Summer Olympics held in St. Louis, Missouri.[1]

Gailey was born in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, but later emigrated to the United States and became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1906. For the 1904 Olympics, he was sponsored by the Olympic Club of San Francisco. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) officially counts Gailey's four medals for the United States,[2] although research undertaken by several Australian newspapers in 2008–09 showed that Gailey was an Australian citizen at the time.[3] In 2009, the Australian Olympic Committee stated that "Gailey's medals, newly credited to Australia, increase the nation's total at summer Olympics to 449".[4]

At the 1904 Summer Olympics, Gailey competed in four swimming events, and due to the lack of entrants all the events were straight finals, on 6 September he entered the 220 yard freestyle, where he finished just under two seconds behind American Charles Daniels and gained a silver medal,[5] on the same day he also entered the 1 mile freestyle and after swimming for nearly 29 minutes he finished in third place behind German Emil Rausch and Hungarian Géza Kiss.[6] The next day Gailey competed in his other two events the 440 yard freestyle, where again he finished second to Charles Daniels,[7] and then the German Emil Rausch beat him in the 880 yard freestyle,[8] so in his two days of events he finished with 3 silver medals and one bronze.[9]

See also

References

  1. "Francis Gailey". Olympedia. Retrieved 19 February 2021.
  2. Olympics.org, Athletes, Francis Gailey Archived 26 October 2014 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 26 October 2014.
  3. Harry Gordon, "Unveiled: our lost Olympic champion," Sydney Morning Herald (28 February 2009). Retrieved 26 October 2014.
  4. "Australia's lost Olympian won four medals". Australian Olympic Committee. 27 February 2009. Retrieved 26 October 2014.
  5. "Swimming at the 1904 St. Louis Summer Games: Men's 220 yard Freestyle". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 18 June 2017.
  6. "Swimming at the 1904 St. Louis Summer Games: Men's One Mile Freestyle". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 18 June 2017.
  7. "Swimming at the 1904 St. Louis Summer Games: Men's 440 yard Freestyle". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 18 June 2017.
  8. "Swimming at the 1904 St. Louis Summer Games: Men's 880 yard Freestyle". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 18 June 2017.
  9. "Frank Gailey". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 18 June 2017.
  • Frank Gailey – Olympic athlete profile databaseOlympics.com
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