Sydney Battersby (GBR)

Honor Pioneer Swimmer (2007)

The information on this page was written the year of their induction.

FOR THE RECORD: 1908 OLYMPIC GAMES: silver (1500m freestyle); 1912 OLYMPIC GAMES: bronze (4x200m); 4 WORLD RECORDS: (400m freestyle, 300y freestyle, 440y freestyle, 1760y freestyle); 5 ASA NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS: (220y, 440y, 880y freestyle, 1 mile long distance).

Syd Battersby swam for England at a time when Hall of Famers Henry Taylor, John Jarvis and Frank Beaurepaire were dominating world competition. Sandwiched between Taylor and Beaurepaire, Battersby won the 1500m silver medal at the 1908 Olympic Games. He set three world records in freestyle and won 5 ASA National Championships, all but one of them in 1909.

At his birth in 1887, the competitive swimming stroke of preference was the trudgen stroke which he mastered for his swimming. At the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm, Syd was past his prime, but helped is team win the bronze medal in the 4×200 meter freestyle relay behind Australia and the USA.