Tram driver competed at 1908
London Games, research showsHe is fourth earliest known black Olympian from any countryA feat of detective work – plus the chance discovery of dozens of well-preserved documents at a wrestling club in Wigan – has unlocked a remarkable secret that rewrites more than 100 years of
British Olympic history, the Guardian can reveal.
![History rewritten as wrestler Louis Bruce revealed as Britain’s first black Olympian](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/94b0a8fe639361bff1d6a7729b9fe44f51202467/1_287_927_556/master/927.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdGctZGVmYXVsdC5wbmc&enable=upscale&s=134397b6c55b67dd581b8021c3fd4305)
The sprinter Harry Edward, who won two bronze medals at the 1920 Antwerp Games, has long been lauded as Britain’s first black Olympian. But now a team of researchers has found that Edward’s achievement was beaten by 12 years by a long forgotten black heavyweight wrestler named Louis Bruce, who reached the second round of the 1908 Olympics in London.