Albert Corey was one of the heroes of the 1904 Olympic Games after winning two silver medals in the marathon and 4 mile team race.

He was hailed as an American track star, with the 26-year-old's name going down in history at the first games where gold, silver and bronze medals were awarded to participants.

But Corey was in fact French and 117 years on from his Olympic success, France wants his medals returned and the record books set straight.

A local councillor in Corey's home town of Meursault has asked the French Olympic Committee to press the issue with the International Olympic Committee after discovering his story by chance.

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"France did not officially participate in those Olympics [in 1904]," Clement Genty told AFP. "After digging a little deeper, we discovered there was a French citizen living in America who took part in the Olympics and won two silver medals."

Corey was born in Meursault in 1878 and enrolled in the French army in 1896 but records show that in 1903 he went absent without leave after fleeing to America to pursue his running dream.

Then aged 25, Corey had excelled as a runner in the army ranks, breaking the 160 kilometer record in 1899. When he arrived in America, he joined a running club in Chicago and was picked to represent the First Regiment Athletic Association of Chicago at the 1904 games in St Louis. 

Corey finished third in the marathon but was upgraded to second place after the gold medalist, Fred Lorz, was found to have cheated by hitching a lift in a car. 

Half of the participants dropped out at various stages of the race because of the sweltering heat but afterwards Corey boasted to newspaper reporters that he "could've done one more lap."

Gold was awarded to British-born American Thomas Hicks in a time of three hours, 28 minutes and 53 seconds to beat Corey by six minutes. Corey was almost 13 minutes ahead of the bronze medalist.

Corey went on to win another silver medal as part of a team in the four-man, 4 mile relay event at the same games, but that medal was assigned to a "mixed team" rather than the U.S.

Historian Genty says the IOC have now agreed to rectify Corey's nationality. He added: "The IOC told me they acknowledge the fact that he's French, but that since he was competing for an American club, the victory was awarded to America. 

"They said they would update their website to include his nationality, so that there's a distinction between the country for which an athlete competes and the country from which they hail."

His incredible story has even shocked Corey's own family, who were unaware of his tale. Serge Canaud, Corey's great grandson, said:"It's crazy, it just feels really wrong. I've been thinking about it for a while now... What I find surprising is that someone in the family must have known about it or talked about it, but I had absolutely no idea."