AFTER 105 YEARS, AUSTRALIA HAS ANOTHER OLYMPIAN

February 28: More than a century after he won four medals in the 1904 St Louis Olympic Games, the Brisbane swimmer Francis Gailey has finally been recognised as an Australian.

Gailey was mistakenly listed in official records of the time as an American, and the error has been perpetuated ever since.

He travelled from Brisbane to the United States early in 1902, and contested four events at the "Meet me in St Louis" 1904 Olympics --- finishing second in the 220 yards, 440 yards and 880 yards, and third in the one-mile freestyle.

That performance gives him the greatest haul of individual medals at a single Games of any male Australian. Shane Gould won five in Munich in 1972, including three gold. Ian Thorpe won five individual medals at two Games --- two in Sydney 2000 and three in Athens 2004 --- as well as three in relays in 2000. Daniel Kowalski won three individual medals in Atlanta in 1996.

Gailey's medals, newly credited to Australia, increase the nation's total at summer Olympics to 449 --- 135 gold, 144 silver and 170 bronze.

Revealing the news yesterday, the Australian Olympic Committee's official historian, Harry Gordon, said that Gailey had been a student at Brisbane Grammar School, and was 22 when he swam in the St Louis Olympics. 

He came home to Australia after the Games, but returned to America in 1906 as an immigrant. He later married, became a naturalised US citizen, and settled in California, where he died in July 1972.

Gordon says that confirmation of Gailey's identity has come from a group of international historians and statisticians who have been investigating the nationalities of athletes at the 1900 (Paris) and 1904 (St Louis) Olympics.

"Both were badly organised attachments to international trade expositions, or world's fairs," says Gordon. "The records have always been pretty suspect."

Until now the belief has been that only one Australian took part in the St Louis Games --- the unplaced hurdler Corrie Gardner, who was also a well-known League footballer, a member of a Melbourne Football Club premiership team. 

The researchers have now established an Olympic Sports-Reference website. It has recently changed Gailey's listing from USA to AUS, and --- thanks to those four medals --- credited Australia with fifth place on the St Louis medals tally.

The swimmer's father, Richard Gailey, was an eminent architect in colonial Brisbane. His brother Richard also a successful career in architecture.