Athletics at the 1908 Summer Olympics

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	James Rector United States	Robert Kerr Canada
200 metres	Robert Kerr Canada	Robert Cloughen United States	Nate Cartmell United States
400 metres	Wyndham Halswelle Great Britain	none awarded	none awarded
800 metres	Mel Sheppard United States	Emilio Lunghi Italy	Hanns Braun Germany
1500 metres	Mel Sheppard United States	Harold Wilson Great Britain	Norman Hallows Great Britain
5 miles	Emil Voigt Great Britain	Edward Owen Great Britain	John Svanberg Sweden
Marathon	Johnny Hayes United States	Charles Hefferon South Africa	Joseph Forshaw United States
110 metres hurdles	Forrest Smithson United States	John Garrels United States	Arthur Shaw United States
400 metres hurdles	Charles Bacon United States	Harry Hillman United States	Jimmy Tremeer Great Britain
3200 metres steeplechase	Arthur Russell Great Britain	Arthur Robertson Great Britain	John Eisele United States
Medley relay	United States (USA) William Hamilton Nate Cartmell John Taylor Mel Sheppard	Germany (GER) Arthur Hoffmann Hans Eicke Otto Trieloff Hanns Braun	Hungary (HUN) Pál Simon Frigyes Wiesner József Nagy Ödön Bodor
3 miles team race	Great Britain (GBR) William Coales Joe Deakin Arthur Robertson	United States (USA) George Bonhag John Eisele Herbert Trube	France (FRA) Joseph Dreher Louis de Fleurac Paul Lizandier
3500 metres walk	George Larner Great Britain	Ernest Webb Great Britain	Harry Kerr Australasia
10 miles walk	George Larner Great Britain	Ernest Webb Great Britain	Edward Spencer Great Britain
Long jump	Frank Irons United States	Daniel Kelly United States	Calvin Bricker Canada
Triple jump	Tim Ahearne Great Britain	Garfield MacDonald Canada	Edvard Larsen Norway
High jump	Harry Porter United States	Géo André France	none awarded
		Con Leahy Great Britain
		István Somodi Hungary
Pole vault	Edward Cook United States	none awarded	Edward Archibald Canada
			Clare Jacobs United States
	Alfred Gilbert United States
			Bruno Söderström Sweden
Standing long jump	Ray Ewry United States	Konstantinos Tsiklitiras Greece	Martin Sheridan United States
Standing high jump	Ray Ewry United States	John Biller United States	none awarded
		Konstantinos Tsiklitiras Greece
Shot put	Ralph Rose United States	Denis Horgan Great Britain	John Garrels United States
Discus throw	Martin Sheridan United States	Merritt Giffin United States	Bill Horr United States
Hammer throw	John Flanagan United States	Matt McGrath United States	Con Walsh Canada
Javelin throw	Eric Lemming Sweden	Arne Halse Norway	Otto Nilsson Sweden
Greek discus	Martin Sheridan United States	Bill Horr United States	Verner Järvinen Finland
Freestyle javelin	Eric Lemming Sweden	Michalis Dorizas Greece	Arne Halse Norway

Medal table

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	United States	16	10	8	34
2	Great Britain	7	7	3	17
3	Sweden	2	0	3	5
4	Canada	1	1	4	6
5	South Africa	1	1	0	2
6	Greece	0	3	0	3
7	Norway	0	1	2	3
8	France	0	1	1	2
	Germany	0	1	1	2
	Hungary	0	1	1	2
11	Italy	0	1	0	1
12	Australasia	0	0	1	1
	Finland	0	0	1	1
Totals (13 nations)		27	27	25	79

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.

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. Retrieved 23 July 2006.
• Wudarski, Pawel (1999). "Wyniki Igrzysk Olimpijskich" (in Polish). Archived from the original on 14 June 2006. Retrieved 23 July 2006.