1904 Summer Olympics / Athletics - 2590 m obstacle (men)

sport	athletics
discipline	2590 meter obstacle course
gender	Men
Attendees	7 athletes from 2 countries
Competition location	Francis Field
Competition phase	August 29, 1904
Winning time	7: 39.6 min ( WR )
Medalist James Lightbody ( USA )   John Daly ( GBR )   Arthur Newton ( USA )

The 2,590-meter steeplechase of the men at the Olympic Games 1904 in St. Louis was on 29. August 1904 in Francis Field discharged. The route was originally advertised as 2500 meters, but was actually 90 meters longer. The run was on a grass track with three obstacles and a moat per lap.

Olympic champion was the American James Lightbody . Irishman John Daly , who started for the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland , won the silver medal. Bronze went to Arthur Newton from the United States .

Results

space	athlete	country	Time (min)
1	James Lightbody	United States	7: 39.6
2	John Daly	Great Britain	8: 01.6
3	Arthur Newton	United States	8: 07.0
4th	Frank Verner	United States	k. A.
More sub contractor	Harvey Cohn	United States
	David Munson	United States
	Richard Sanford	United States

Irish favorite John Daly was clearly in the lead for a long time. At the moat on the last lap, however, he weakened and almost collapsed. So James Lightbody was able to overtake him and still get a clear lead. Arthur Newton, who finished third in the marathon the following day, also passed the Irishman. But this caught itself again and thus saved the silver medal.

For James Lightbody, this was the first of three gold medals he won at these games. A few days later he became Olympic champion in the 800 and 1500 meters . He won both middle distances and this obstacle course .

Arthur Newton also took bronze on the marathon course just one day after the obstacle race .

The information on the distance between the runners and the winner Lightbody contradict each other in the various sources, sometimes considerably. Kluge and the IOC side give Daly 7: 40.6 min, while SportsReference speaks of 100  yards behind, which corresponds much more to the time given here and the reports on the race. SportsReference sees a distance of 25 m or 30 y between the second and third , which agrees well with the time given here.

Another deviation can be found at zur Megede . He names George Bonhag as fifth and Harvey Cohn - both USA - as sixth. The two Americans David Munson and Richard Sanford do not appear in his list.

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  Olympic champion James Lightbody receives the so-called Gregg Cup from AL Shapleigh, Committee on Physical Culture

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  Irish silver medalist John Daly

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  The Olympic third Arthur Newton, also bronze medalist in the  marathon

literature

• Volker Kluge , Olympic Summer Games - The Chronicle I, Berlin 1997 ( ISBN 3-328-00715-6 )
• Ekkehard zur Megede , The history of Olympic athletics, Volume 1: 1896–1936, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 2nd edition 1970

Web links

• Sports-Reference, Athletics at the 1904 St. Louis Summer Games: Men's 2,590 meter steeplechase , accessed July 31, 2018
• Olympic Games St. Louis 1904, Athletics, 3000m steeplechase men , IOC website on athletics at the 1904 Olympic Games at olympic.org, English, accessed on July 31, 2018