1908 - London

The 1908 Olympic Games in London, United Kingdom April 27 - October 31, 1908 Mascot - none 22 countries (incl. RSA), 2035 athletes (36 women) 21 sports, 110 events Opening - King Edward VII (GBR) Torch lit by - none Candidates: Berlin, Milan, Rome Also known as the "rubber man" due to his amazing versatility, Raymond Ewry achieved more than his fair share of Olympic success during consecutive Olympiads. His final participation in the Games was in 1908, four years before his events were taken out of the Olympic program. The Olympic ideal is given a new dimension Rome had originally been selected to host the 1908 Olympics, but the Italian organizers withdrew after a 1906 eruption of Mount Vesuvius created havoc in the country. The IOC asked the British Olympic Association to take over. In many respects, it was the ideal solution. England had much more collective experience in organizing large sports events than any other country, with the Henley Royal Regatta, the All-England (Wimbledon) tennis tournament, and the 30-year-old Amateur Athletic Association's national track and field championships. The image of the Games was restored within White City (about 70,000 standing places), in London (22 April - 31 October), on the fringes of the Anglo-French exhibition commemorating the Entente Cordial. These Olympics permitted a new dimension to be added to the Games. Twenty-two countries competed in the 1908 Olympics, the same number as in 1900, but the number of athletes increased dramatically, from 1,330 to 2,035. They took part in the official procession in front of the Royal family. The English organizers did bring considerably more order to the Olympics, primarily by limiting the number of athletes that could represent any one country in a given event. But the 1908 Games were the first to be marred by international politics and controversy over judging Finnish athletes were told that they would have to march under the flag of the Soviet Union, not the flag of Finland, and they chose not to carry any flag at all. Similarly, Irish athletes who wanted to represent their country were ordered to compete on behalf of Great Britain, and many of them withdrew as a result. Acrimony between the United States and the host country began at the opening ceremony, when the American flag bearer, Ralph Rose, refused to dip the flag to the royal box, as other countries did. He explained his action with the terse statement, "This flag dips to no earthly king." Several decisions by British judges went against American athletes during the games, and U. S. spokesmen felt they stemmed from bias, caused in part by the flag incident. Other countries also complained about some official decisions. The Swedish Greco-Roman wrestling team withdrew because of several adverse rulings, and both Canada and France complained bitterly about what they felt were unfair decisions in cycling. The biggest controversy arose from the final of the 400-meter run, in which there were only four runners, one Briton and three Americans. J. C. Carpenter, who apparently won the race, was disqualified for allegedly interfering with the British runner, Wyndham Halswelle. Judges ordered a rerun of the final, but the three Americans refused to take part and Halswelle won by running around the track all by himself. One reason for the disqualification was that Great Britain and the United States had different rules governing obstruction in running races. As a result of the controversy, the IOC decided, after the 1908 Games, that judges would be drawn from an international pool, rather than being furnished by the host country, and that standardized rules would be drawn up for all sports. That led directly to the founding in 1912 of the International Amateur Athletic Federation to codify rules for track and field competition. The marathon also ended in controversy when Dorando Pietri of Italy collapsed after entering the stadium ahead of the pack. He was revived by doctors and some of the officials helped him to his feet and then assisted him to the finish line. John Hayes of the United States was the second finisher. Pietri had been declared the winner, but the Americans lodged a protest that was finally upheld. However, the action by the British officials, and the unusually long time it took them to uphold the protest, didn't go over very well with the United States. This at once made headlines in the national press. But thanks to the marathon - whose course went through Windsor Castle and the stadium of White City - which was disputed by runners over a distance of 42.195km (26mi 385yds), and thanks to some good organization and a veritable sporting interest (numerous events and plenty of athletes), the Games ended with the result that the Olympic ideal became more recognized and appreciated. On the subject of results, the Americans, led by the middle distance king Mel Sheppard, demonstrated their supremacy in the athletics events. But at home, the British managed to win the most important medals among those distributed throughout the 20 sports: 143 (55 gold), against an American total of 47. On the brighter side, the overall organization of the 1908 Olympics was nearly impeccable despite an almost constant downpour of rain. The system of using qualifying standards and preliminary competition leading up to the medals events has been followed by the organizers of every Olympics since then. Quite by accident, the standard marathon distance was established in 1908. The original course was 25 miles long, which was more or less the standard distance at the time. But the starting line was moved from its original location to Windsor Castle, in order to give the royal family a better view, and the resulting distance of 26 miles, 385 yards has been the standard ever since. The British also set a standard for future international swimming competition by building a 100-meter pool, clearly marked into lanes. And they planted the seed of the future Winter Olympics by adding figure skating to the program. (Two other new sports, powerboat racing and the tug-of-war, were never again seen in the Olympics.) Despite the disputed 400-meter result, the United States did well in track and field, winning 13 of the 24 events. Ray Ewry won the standing broad jump and standing high jump to increase his gold medal total to 10, which is still the all-time record. Mel Sheppard was the only other double gold medallist and track and field, winning the 800- and 1,500-meter runs. The biggest winner overall was Henry Taylor of Great Britain, who won three gold medals in swimming. The 1908 Olympic Games were originally scheduled to be hosted by Rome, but the 1906 eruption of Mount Vesuvius caused the Games to be relocated to London. These Games were much better organized than the previous regularly scheduled Olympic Games (they were even the first to have an opening ceremony), yet they were marred by politics and nationalism. Britain's recent refusal to give Ireland its independence caused Irish athletes to boycott the Games and caused contestants from the U.S to not dip the American flag to the British royalty during the opening ceremony (a tradition the U.S. continues to this day). There was also controversy over the 400-meter final heat. As four runners came into the final stretch, W.C. Robbins (U.S.) was first, followed by J.C. Carpenter (U.S.), with British Wyndham Halswelle coming in third, and followed by a fourth runner from the U.S. As Carpenter and Halswelle (second and third runners) swung out to pass Robbins, someone shouted "Foul!" Though Carpenter (the U.S. runner who had been in second) finished first, with Robbins (U.S.) in second, and Halswelle (U.K.) in third, the British officials accused Carpenter of blocking and elbowing Halswelle and voided the whole race. The race was ordered to be rerun, but since the American runners refused to redo the race, Halswelle ran the race all by himself to win the gold. It was in the 1908 Olympic Games that the exact distance of a marathon was established as 26 miles and 365 yards. Diving was added to the events for this year. LONDON 1908 GOLD MEDAL WINNERS 99 Men, 3 Women, 4 Open (Sailing) Events 1 Men, 1 Women, 2 Open Events (Wintersport) ARCHERY M/Ind. Continental: Eugene Grisot, France M/Ind. York: William Dod, GBR W/Ind. National: Sybil Newall, GBR ATHLETICS, Men 100m: Reggie Walker, S Africa 200m: Robert Kerr, Canada 400m: Wyndham Halswelle, GBR 800m: Melvin Sheppard, USA 1500m: Melvin Sheppard, USA 5mi: Emil Voight, GBR 110m Hurdles: Forrest Smithson, USA 400m Hurdles: Charles Bacon, USA 3200m Steeplechase: Arthur Russell, GBR 3mi Team Race: Great Britain 3500m Walk: George Larner, GBR 10mi Walk: George Larner, GBR Marathon: John Hayes, USA Discus: Martin Sheridan, USA Discus Greek: Martin Sheridan, USA Hammer: John Flanagan, USA High Jump: Harry Porter, USA Javelin: Eric Lemming, Sweden Javelin Freestyle: Eric Lemming, Sweden Long Jump: Frank Irons, USA Pole Vault: Edward Cook & Alfred Gilbert, USA Shot Put: Ralph Rose, USA Triple Jump: Tim Ahearne, GBR Standing High Jump: Ray Ewry, USA Standing Long Jump: Ray Ewry, USA Olympic Relay: United States Tug-of-War: Great Britain BOXING Bantamweight: A. Henry Thomas, GBR Featherweight: Richard Gunn, GBR Lightweight, Frederick Grace, GBR Middleweight: John Douglas, GBR Super Heavyweight: Albert Leonard Oldman, GBR CYCLING, Men 2000m Tandem Sprint: France One-lap race: Victor Johnson, GBR 5km Track Race: Benjamin Jones, GBR 20km Track Race: Clarence Kingsbury, GBR 100km Track Race: Charles Bartlett, GBR Team Pursuit: Great Britain FENCING, Men Ind. Epee: Gaston Alibert, France Ind. Sabre: Jeno Fuchs, Hungary Team Epee: France Team Sabre: Hungary FIGURE SKATING [WINTER] M/Singles: Ulrich Salchow, Sweden W/Singles: Madge Syers, GBR Pairs: Anna Hubler & Heinrich Burger, Germany RUSSIA??? FOOTBALL Team, men: Great Britain GYMNASTICS, Men Ind. All-around: Alberto Braglia, Italy Team: Sweden HOCKEY Team, men: Great Britain JEU DE PAUME, Men Singles Team: Jay Gould, USA LACROSSE Team, men: Canada POLO Men's Team: Great Britain RACKETS, Men Singles: Evan Noel, GBR Doubles: Great Britain ROWING, Men Single Sculls: Harry Blackstaffe, GBR Coxless Pairs: John Fenning & Gordon Thomson, GBR Coxless Fours: Great Britain Eights: Great Britain RUGBY Team, Men: Australasia (AUS+NZL) SAILING, Open 6m Class: Great Britain 7m Class: Great Britain 8m Class: Great Britain 12m Class: Great Britain SHOOTING, Men 25y SB Rifle DTarget: William Styles, GBR 25y SB Rifle MTarget: John Fleming, GBR 50m SB Rifle Prone: Arthur Ashton Carnell, GBR 50+100y SB Rifle Team: Great Britain 100m Running Deer Single: Oscar Swahn, Sweden Team: Sweden 100m Running Deer Double: Walter Winans, USA 50m Free Pistol: Paul van Asbroeck, Belgium 300m Free Rifle 3x40: Albert Helgerud, Norway 300m Free Rifle Team: Norway 1000 Free Rifle: Joshua Millner, GBR 50y Military Revolver Team: United States Military Rifle Team: United States Trap: Walter Ewing, Canada Trap Team: Great Britain SWIMMING, Men 100m Freestyle: Charles Daniels, USA 400m Freestyle: Henry Taylor, GBR 1500m Freestyle: Henry Taylor, GBR 100m Backstroke: Arno Bieberstein, Germany 200m Breaststroke: Frederick Holman, GBR 4x200m Freestyle: Great Britain 10m Platform: Hjalmar Johansson, Sweden 3m Springboard: Albert Zurner, Germany Water Polo: Great Britain TENNIS M/Singles: Josiah Ritchie, GBR M/Singles Indoor: Arthur Gore, GBR M/Doubles: George Hillyard & Reggie Doherty, GBR M/Doubles Indoor: Arthur Gore & Herbert Barrett, GBR W/Singles: Dorothea Chambers, GBR W/Singles Indoor: Gwen Eastlake-Smith, GBR WATER MOTORSPORTS, Men A-Class: Emile Thoubron, France B-Class: Great Britain C-Class: Great Britain WRESTLING, FREESTYLE 54kg: George Nicholas Mehnert, USA 60.3kg: George Stuart Dole, USA 66.6kg: George Frederick William de Relwyskow, GBR 73kg: Stanley Bacon, GBR +73kg: George Cornelius O'Kelly, GBR/IRL WRESTLING, GRECO-ROMAN 66.6kg: Enrico Porro, Italy 73kg: Frithiof Martensson, Sweden 93kg: Verner Johan Weckman, Finland +93kg: Richard Weisz, Hungary