Walter Spence

Walter Percy Spence (March 3, 1901 – October 16, 1958) was a swimmer from British Guiana (present-day Guyana) who competed for Canada in the 1928 Summer Olympics and 1932 Summer Olympics. He immigrated to the United States and held several national swimming titles there. Spence was born in Christianburg, British Guiana, the oldest of eight children—four brothers and four sisters. His father was Scottish and worked as a big game hunter and guide, while his mother was Indian. The Spences would swim in the Demerara River; six family members bore scars from piranha bites suffered while swimming there. Walter and two of his younger brothers, Wallace and Leonard, became champion swimmers. Two of the four Spence sisters also swam competitively, although not at the level of their brothers. The youngest Spence brother, Harold, showed great promise but was killed in action in World War II before his swimming career could take off.After becoming the top swimmer in British Guiana, Walter Spence moved to Trinidad and began competing there. After losing a freestyle race to a swimmer from Chicago, his first-ever loss in that type of competition, Spence decided to pursue training in the United States. He arrived in the United States in 1923, and would eventually gain U.S. citizenship. He began his U.S. career with the Brooklyn YMCA team, swimming the breaststroke and three-stroke individual medley. By 1925 he had broken ten world records and was the top point scorer at the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) national championships that year. He later competed with the Penn Athletic Club in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.He competed for Canada in the 1928 Olympics and won a bronze medal in the 4x200-metre freestyle relay event. He was also sixth in the 100-metre freestyle event and sixth in the 200-metre breaststroke event. Four years later he was fourth in the 4x200-metre freestyle relay event. He was also fourth in his semifinal of the 100-metre freestyle event and fourth in his semifinal of