Sam Greasley

Winner of the 4,000 metres professional race at the 1900 Paris Olympics, Sam Greasley was a blacksmith and bootmaker from Leicester. He became a respected long-distance swimmer and was regarded as the world champion. He also won the 440 and 880 yards championships of England, and was the 1-mile champion three years in succession 1890-92. Despite never successfully swimming the English Channel, Greasley swam the 13 miles from Worthing to Brighton in just under four and a half hours in 1904. Gresley’s daughter Louisa was a top-class swimmer and at the time of her father’s death, had been living in Canada for the previous ten years, where she received expert coaching and won many prizes and trophies.

Greasley broke the English amateur 880 yards record in 1891 (13:42.4) and the one-mile record (28:18.4) the following year.