Sydney writer Peter Fenton has chronicled the struggle, life and times of Andrew "Boy" Charlton, Olympic 1,500m champion at the 1924 Paris Games, in a biography entitled They Called Him Boy.

On their way to the Paris Games by ship, Charlton and his team mates trained in a canvas pool to maintain fitness during their weeks at sea.

During the voyage, Charlton's coach and mentor Tommy Adrian jumped from the ship, fully clothed. Fenton writes that Charlton's teammate Ernie Henry had to restrain the teenager from diving into "shark-infested waters" to save the World War I veteran.

Adrian - the man who had guided Charlton to victory over the "Swedish Sturgeon" Arne Borg in the buildup to the Games - is believed to have been suffering from extreme post-traumatic stress triggered by the war. It was a condition not recognised by the medical fraternity of the era.

Adrian survived after being picked up in a lifeboat and was ordered by the captain to be locked in the ship's brig for his own safety. No visitors were allowed, and Charlton, who had lost his mother as a 13-year-old, would not see his coach and mentor again until well after he returned to Sydney.

In Paris, lane ropes, suspended in the water by cork, were used for the first time in the pool. Charlton broke the world record and took the title in 20:06.6 seconds.

Charlton went on to the 1928 and 1932 Games and ended his Olympic career with a gold, three silver and a bronze after competing in three Games. Oddly, he never won an Australian title.

Boy Charlton died in December, 1975.

They Called Him Boy is published by Random House Australia.