Boy Charlton

Andrew Murray Charlton (12 August 1907 – 10 December 1975), known popularly as Boy Charlton, was an Australian freestyle swimmer of the 1920s and 1930s who won a gold medal in the 1500 m freestyle at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris. He set five world records and also won a further three silver and one bronze medal in his Olympic career.

Early life

Charlton was born in Crows Nest, Sydney, as the only son of Oswald and Ada Charlton. The accounts of his early life vary: the Australian Dictionary of Biography states that his father was a bank manager, while other sources suggest that he was raised in low socio-economic conditions and relied on benefactors to support his career. He was raised in the northern seaside suburb of Manly and was educated at Manly Village Public School and later Sydney Grammar School. Charlton was a member of North Steyne Surf Life Saving club in his teens, before transferring to Manly Life Saving Club in the mid 1920s

Swimming

Charlton first came to public attention in 1921 when he won a 440 yd freestyle race in the open division at a New South Wales Swimming Association competition in 5 min 45 s. It was his youth that led to his nickname "Boy". In 1922 Bill Harris, the bronze medallist in the 100m freestyle at the 1920 Summer Olympics, came to Australia from Honolulu to compete against the likes of Frank Beaurepaire and Moss Christie. Charlton defeated Harris at the New South Wales Championships, winning the 440 yd in 5 min 22.4 s. He then set a world record of 11m 5.4s in the 880yd event, as well as winning the one mile race in 23 min 43.2 s. Charlton used a trudgen stroke which embodied characteristics of the modern crawl stroke, which was at the time in its infancy.