Athletics
at the Games of the IV Olympiad
No. of events26

At the 1908 Summer Olympics held in London, England, 26 athletics events were contested, all for men only. A total of 79 medals (27 gold, 27 silver, 25 bronze) were awarded.

Each nation was allowed to enter up to 12 competitors in most of the events. In the team races (the medley relay and the 3 mile team race), each nation entered one team. The medley relay was run by four athletes, with four alternates allowed. In the 3 mile team race, five athletes from each nation ran with only three counting.

The competition was restricted to amateurs, and was held under the rules of the British Amateur Athletic Association.

Medal summary

Event Gold Silver Bronze
100 metres
Reggie Walker
 South Africa
10.8 OR James Rector
 United States
(10.9) [lower-alpha 1] Robert Kerr
 Canada
(11.0) [lower-alpha 2]
200 metres
Robert Kerr
 Canada
22.6 Robert Cloughen
 United States
22.6 Nate Cartmell
 United States
22.7
400 metres
Wyndham Halswelle
 Great Britain
50.0 none awarded none awarded
800 metres
Mel Sheppard
 United States
1:52.8 WR Emilio Lunghi
 Italy
1:54.2 Hanns Braun
 Germany
1:55.2
1500 metres
Mel Sheppard
 United States
4:03.4 OR Harold Wilson
 Great Britain
4:03.6 Norman Hallows
 Great Britain
4:04.0
5 miles
Emil Voigt
 Great Britain
25:11.2 OR Edward Owen
 Great Britain
25:24.0 John Svanberg
 Sweden
25:37.2
Marathon
Johnny Hayes
 United States
2:55:18.4 WR Charles Hefferon
 South Africa
2:56:06.0 Joseph Forshaw
 United States
2:57:10.4
110 metres hurdles
Forrest Smithson
 United States
15.0 WR John Garrels
 United States
15.7 Arthur Shaw
 United States
15.8
400 metres hurdles
Charles Bacon
 United States
55.0 WR Harry Hillman
 United States
55.3 Jimmy Tremeer
 Great Britain
57.0
3200 metres steeplechase
Arthur Russell
 Great Britain
10:47.8 Arthur Robertson
 Great Britain
10:48.4 John Eisele
 United States
11:00.8
Medley relay
 United States (USA)
William Hamilton
Nate Cartmell
John Taylor
Mel Sheppard
3:29.4  Germany (GER)
Arthur Hoffmann
Hans Eicke
Otto Trieloff
Hanns Braun
3:32.4  Hungary (HUN)
Pál Simon
Frigyes Wiesner
József Nagy
Ödön Bodor
3:32.5
3 miles team race
 Great Britain (GBR)
William Coales 14:41.6
Joe Deakin 14:39.6
Arthur Robertson 14:41.0
6 pts  United States (USA)
George Bonhag 15:05.0
John Eisele 14:41.8
Herbert Trube 15:11.0
19 pts  France (FRA)
Joseph Dreher 15:40.0
Louis de Fleurac 14:56.0
Paul Lizandier 15:56.6
32 pts
3500 metres walk
George Larner
 Great Britain
14:55.0 WR Ernest Webb
 Great Britain
15:07.4 Harry Kerr
 Australasia
15:43.4
10 miles walk
George Larner
 Great Britain
1:15:57.4 WR Ernest Webb
 Great Britain
1:17:31.0 Edward Spencer
 Great Britain
1:21:20.2
Long jump
Frank Irons
 United States
7.48 m OR Daniel Kelly
 United States
7.09 m Calvin Bricker
 Canada
7.08 m
Triple jump
Tim Ahearne
 Great Britain
14.92 m OR Garfield MacDonald
 Canada
14.76 m Edvard Larsen
 Norway
14.39 m
High jump
Harry Porter
 United States
1.90 m OR Géo André
 France
1.88 m none awarded
Con Leahy
 Great Britain
István Somodi
 Hungary
Pole vault
Edward Cook
 United States
3.71 m OR none awarded Edward Archibald
 Canada
3.58 m
Clare Jacobs
 United States
Alfred Gilbert
 United States
Bruno Söderström
 Sweden
Standing long jump
Ray Ewry
 United States
3.33 m Konstantinos Tsiklitiras
 Greece
3.235 m Martin Sheridan
 United States
3.23 m
Standing high jump
Ray Ewry
 United States
1.57 m John Biller
 United States
1.55 m none awarded
Konstantinos Tsiklitiras
 Greece
Shot put
Ralph Rose
 United States
14.21 m Denis Horgan
 Great Britain
13.62 m John Garrels
 United States
13.18 m
Discus throw
Martin Sheridan
 United States
40.89 m OR Merritt Giffin
 United States
40.70 m Bill Horr
 United States
39.45 m
Hammer throw
John Flanagan
 United States
51.92 m OR Matt McGrath
 United States
51.18 m Con Walsh
 Canada
48.51 m
Javelin throw
Eric Lemming
 Sweden
54.83 m WR Arne Halse
 Norway
50.57 m Otto Nilsson
 Sweden
47.11 m
Greek discus
Martin Sheridan
 United States
37.99 m Bill Horr
 United States
37.32 m Verner Järvinen
 Finland
36.48 m
Freestyle javelin
Eric Lemming
 Sweden
54.44 m WR Michalis Dorizas
 Greece
51.36 m Arne Halse
 Norway
49.73 m

Medal table

RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1 United States1610834
2 Great Britain77317
3 Sweden2035
4 Canada1146
5 South Africa1102
6 Greece0303
7 Norway0123
8 France0112
 Germany0112
 Hungary0112
11 Italy0101
12 Australasia0011
 Finland0011
Totals (13 entries)27272579

Events

The 1908 Games were the first to feature race walking, with two different events held. Two different forms of javelin throwing also appeared, introducing the new throwing apparatus to the programme. The 60 metre short sprint was dropped from the programme, as was the middle hurdle distance. Steeplechasing was done at 3200 metres instead of the 2500 metres that had been included at the previous two editions; the team race also had its distance shortened. A short track relay event was added. The multi-discipline triathlon and decathlon events that had been held at the 1904 Games were both absent. An event featuring the discus, which had become a staple of Olympic athletics, was held in which throwers had to follow a very specific throwing style. Overall there was one more event on the 1908 programme than there had been in 1904.

Calendar

Participating nations

446 athletes from 20 nations competed. Argentina and Turkey were the only two nations not to compete in athletics.

Notes

  1. Estimated from 1.5 ft distance behind winner
  2. Estimated from "close behind" distance behind 2nd place

References

  • Cook, Theodore Andrea (1908). The Fourth Olympiad, Being the Official Report. London: British Olympic Association.
  • De Wael, Herman (2001). "Athletics 1908". Herman's Full Olympians. Archived from the original on 27 September 2006. Retrieved 23 July 2006.
  • Wudarski, Pawel (1999). "Wyniki Igrzysk Olimpijskich" (in Polish). Archived from the original on 14 June 2006. Retrieved 23 July 2006.

51°30′49″N 0°13′39″E / 51.5136°N 0.2274°E / 51.5136; 0.2274

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