Francis Gailey
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Francis Gailey | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nationality | American Australian (disputed) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 21 January 1882 Brisbane, Queensland | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | 10 July 1972 (aged 90) Garden Grove, California | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Swimming | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Strokes | Freestyle | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | Olympic Club, San Francisco | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Francis 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 (census records variously state the year as 1901,[2] 1902,[3] and 1906[4]) and became a naturalized U.S. citizen. For the 1904 Olympics, he was sponsored by the Olympic Club of San Francisco. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) had officially counted Gailey's four medals for the United States,[5] although research undertaken by several Australian newspapers in 2008–09 showed that Gailey was an Australian citizen at the time.[6] 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".[7]
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.[8] 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.[9] The next day Gailey competed in his other two events, the 440 yard freestyle, where again he finished second to Charles Daniels,[10] and then the 880 yard freestyle, where German Emil Rausch again beat him.[11] In his two days of events he finished with three silver medals and one bronze.[12]
In 1906, Gailey sailed to San Francisco on the SS Sonoma, and worked as an insurance clerk in California,[3] lived for a time in Ontario, Canada, where he married Mary Adams in 1914 or 1915,[4] and finally settled in southern California in 1918, working as a foreman in the oil industry[2][4] and managing orange-grove plantations.[7]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "Francis Gailey". Olympedia. Retrieved 19 February 2021.
- ^ a b 1920 United States Federal Census - Ancestry.com
- ^ a b 1910 United States Federal Census - Ancestry.com
- ^ a b c 1930 United States Federal Census - Ancestry.com
- ^ Olympics.org, Athletes, Francis Gailey Archived 26 October 2014 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 26 October 2014.
- ^ Harry Gordon, "Unveiled: our lost Olympic champion," Sydney Morning Herald (28 February 2009). Retrieved 26 October 2014.
- ^ a b "Australian Olympic Committee: Australia's lost Olympian won four medals". Archived from the original on 16 August 2012. Retrieved 2 July 2025.
- ^ "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.
- ^ "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.
- ^ "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.
- ^ "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.
- ^ "Frank Gailey". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 18 June 2017.
External links
[edit]- Frank Gailey – Olympic athlete profile databaseOlympics.com
- Francis Gailey at Olympics.com
- Francis Gailey at the Australian Olympic Committee
- Francis Gailey at Olympedia
- 1882 births
- 1972 deaths
- American male freestyle swimmers
- Australian male freestyle swimmers
- Australian emigrants to the United States
- Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in swimming
- Olympic silver medalists for the United States in swimming
- Olympic swimmers for Australia
- Swimmers from Brisbane
- Swimmers at the 1904 Summer Olympics
- Medalists at the 1904 Summer Olympics
- Sportsmen from Queensland
- 20th-century American sportsmen