 Battersby in 1908 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Thomas Sydney Battersby | |||||||||||||||||
| National team | Great Britain | |||||||||||||||||
| Born | 18 November 1887 Platt Bridge, Wigan, United Kingdom | |||||||||||||||||
| Died | 3 September 1974 (aged 86) Sydney, New South Wales, Australia | |||||||||||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Swimming | |||||||||||||||||
| Strokes | Freestyle | |||||||||||||||||
| Club | Wigan Swim Club | |||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Thomas Sydney Battersby (18 November 1887 – 3 September 1974) was an English competition swimmer who represented Great Britain in freestyle events at two consecutive Olympic Games.[1]
At the 1908 Summer Olympics hosted by London, he won a silver medal in the men's 1500-metre freestyle, finishing second with a time of 22:51.2, behind fellow Briton Henry Taylor (22:48.4), and ahead of Australian Frank Beaurepaire (22:56.2).[2] He also advanced to the semifinals in the 400-metre freestyle.[3]
Four years later at the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden, Battersby won a bronze medal as a member of the third-place British men's team in the 4×200-metre relay. He also reached the semifinals of the 400-metre freestyle and 1500-metre freestyle.[3]
During the course of his competitive swimming career, Battersby set four world records in freestyle events, including the 400-metre, 330-yard, 440-yard and one-mile distances.[4] Battersby had a reputation for physical toughness; at the 1908 Olympics, he continued to swim at the end of the 1500-metre event – a shorter distance than the imperial mile – in an attempt to break the world record for the mile freestyle. He fell short of breaking the world record, but did set a new British national mark.[5]
He was born in Platt Bridge, near Wigan, Lancashire, England, and died in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.[3] He was posthumously inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame as an "Honor Swimmer" in 2007.[4]