OLYMPIAN: The Olympics are going on now in Paris, 100 years after the summer Olympic games were held there in 1924.

Turns out that a Bradford boy, Adam Wyman Smith, was an Olympian. A swimmer, 20-year-old Smith represented the United States at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris.

Smith competed in the men’s 1,500-meter freestyle, in the event’s fourth appearance at the games. He was among 22 competitors representing 12 nations.

Racing in the first qualifying heat in which the two fastest swimmers advance, Smith narrowly edged out Australian Moss Christie’s time of 22:49.4 by clocking a time of 22:48.8.

Smith advanced to the semifinals, and posted a time of 22:39.8.

The Australian Boy Charlton set an Olympic record in 21:20.4 in his qualifying heat and went on to smash the world record with a gold medal time of 20:06.6.

While Smith didn’t win a medal in the 1924 Olympics, we can still claim an Olympian as a Bradford native!

He was born in Bradford in 1903, the only child of James D. Smith. His father died of pneumonia when Adam was 5 years old, and he was put in the care of a guardian, W.W. Bell. He loved to swim, and as a teenager moved to Erie, where he joined the Erie YMCA swimming team.

He remained a favorite of local Bradfordians. In the summer of 1941, Smith returned to Bradford for an exhibition swim meet at Recreation Park, now known as Callahan Park.

He later went on to coach various swim clubs throughout the eastern United States. He died in Chapel Hill, N.C., in 1985, at the age of 81.