Charles Sydney Smith

Who was Charles Sydney Smith?

Charles Sydney Smith was born in Wigan, the ninth of eleven children born to Thomas Smith and Elizabeth née Sayer. He was a British water polo player who competed as goalkeeper for the England Water Polo team which won gold medals in the London games of 1908, and the Stockholm games of 1912. After the Great War he returned, at the age of 44, as part of the Great Britain team to win a third Gold Medal at the Antwerp games in 1920. He was still in the team four years later competing in the Paris games of 1924 where the team was knocked out in the first round by the Hungarian team after extra time.

Smith was chosen to represent the country as the flag bearer at the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden. This made him the first competing athlete to carry the flag for Great Britain.