The nineteen oh four Summer Olympics in Saint Louis were an overwhelming success for the host nation. The United States absolutely dominated, claiming over two hundred medals, their closest competitors Germany one just fifteen. But years later, four of the medals won by the US were taken away. Obviously, it barely put a dent in their huge medal tally, but
history had been rewritten. Nonetheless. As to why the Americans were stripped of these medals, well, I can tell you it wasn't for cheating, at least not in the way you're probably thinking. It turns out that the bloke who won these medals for the United States wasn't really an American. Hey, I'm Tony Armstrong and you're listening to the ballroom. This is where we celebrate the winners, losers, and the weird stuff between the Olympics of nineteen oh four in Saint
Louis would be unrecognizable today. It was the first Summer Olympics held outside of Europe and coincided with the World's Fair. The events span nearly five months from July to November. It featured sixteen official sports, including tug of war, basketball, baseball and American football were also showcased unofficially as demonstrations, and it was the first Olympics where gold, silver, and bronze medals were actually handed out. Francis Frank Gaily was
a swimmer specializing in freestyle. He was twenty two years old and was sponsored by the Olympic Club of San Francisco to compete in the games. It was the only time in Olympic history that distances were measured in yards. The us of A never changed. Frank competed in four races and first up was the two hundred and twenty yard freestyle. Now the swimming events were not like what
we have today. No fancy indoor heated pool nah. This all went down in a man made lake and instead of diving blocks, swimmers were launching off a small wooden dock. There were boats in the water and crowds of people gathered along the bank to watch. Frank claimed the silver medal with a time of two minutes forty six, just two seconds behind American Charles Daniels. Next up the four hundred and forty yard freestyle. Frank was beaten again by Daniels,
but still managed to come in second. There were only four competitors in both these events, but still a silver medal is a silver medal. The eight hundred and eighty yard freestyle followed. There were a whopping five swimmers this time, and Frank came away with another piece of silverware. Silver. Again, no sign of Charles Daniels, though maybe he was a bit tired. It was on the same day as the previous race, so the last of Frank's events was the
one mile freestyle. Seven swimmers dived into the lake and three of them didn't finish. It was a tight race for the remaining swimmers, but Frank managed to claim bronze. Four medals all up and a solid contribution for the United States. But more than one hundred years later, the history books needed amending. In two thousand and nine, researchers from the Australian Olympic Committee were doing some digging when they discovered that Francis Frank Gaily was in fact an Australian.
Apparently the record keeping wasn't very accurate back in the day, considering the world's fare was a mess and the Olympics were drawn out over five months and well, the paperwork must have been a nightmare. Thank goodness for historians. They learned that Frank was born in Queensland and had traveled to the USA and February of nineteen oh four. Because of his sponsorship from the San Francisco Olympic Club, he was mistaken for an American, an era that somehow survived
for over a century. If only they'd picked up the San Francisco newspaper in June nineteen oh four, which reported on Frank Gailey's amateur world record with the headline mighty effort of Australian. The wild thing is Frank wasn't the only one whose nationality they got wrong. Because the USA had seen an influx of immigrants who were yet to become citizens, Several athletes were misidentified as Americans, like another Frank, for example, Frank Bozzoni, He was actually an Italian citizen.
Maybe that's why so many medals were attributed to the USA, huh. Anyway, Once the findings were verified, Ossie Frank's achievements were officially added to Australia's overall medal itally nice. In nineteen oh six, Frank Gaily went back to North America, this time for good. He worked as a banker in California and met his wife while living in Ontario. By nineteen eighteen, he'd moved back to the US and settled down living the most
Californian life imaginable, running an orange plantation. Eventually, he actually did become a US citizen, making his Olympic story just that little bit more complicated. If there's one thing us, as he's loved to do, it's claim champions as one of our own. But in Frank's case, he'll always be the kid from Brizzi. Thanks for joining me in the poolroom. That's it for this episode, but I'll catch you in the next one. I'm Tony Armstrong. Stay classy.