The West Ham SC Junior 100 yards champion at the age of 15, James Slane got his place on the 1912 Great Britain Olympic swimming team after winning the 100 meters trial at Tooting. He was a non-starter in Stockholm, but a couple of weeks after the Games, finished third at the ASA Championships, his only ASA podium finish. Slane’s brother George was also a fine backstroke swimmer and competed in the ASA Championships after World War I, while another brother, William, competed in the National Graceful Diving Championships. In his thirties, James was still swimming, and also played water polo, with the Otter Club
Great Britain