1908 Summer Olympics / Athletics - 100 m (men)

sport	athletics
discipline	100 meter run
gender	Men
place	White City Stadium
Attendees	60 athletes from 16 countries
Competition phase	July 20-22
Medalist
gold	Reggie Walker ( RSA )
silver	James Rector ( USA )
bronze	Robert Kerr ( CAN )

The men's 100-meter race at the 1908 London Olympics was held from July 20 to July 22, 1908 at the White City Stadium . With 60 athletes, more athletes took part than ever before. In the preliminary round they competed against each other in 17 runs, then 4 semi-finals were held before the final.

The South African Reggie Walker became Olympic champion . The American James Rector won the silver medal, bronze went to the Canadian Robert Kerr .

Records

This table shows the records that existed before the 1908 Olympics. The world record was still an unofficial record back then.

World record	10.6 s ( unofficial)	Sweden	Knut Lindberg	Gothenburg ( SWE )	Helsingborg ( SWE ), August 26th 1906
Olympic record	10.8 s	United States	Frank Jarvis	Pre-run Paris ( FRA )	July 14, 1900
		United States	Walter Tewksbury	Semifinals Paris ( FRA )	July 14, 1900

The Olympic record of 10.8 s was equalized four times in these games.

• James Rector USA , 15th preliminary round 
• Reggie Walker South Africa , 1st semifinals 
• James Rector USA , 3rd semifinals 
• Reggie Walker South Africa , final 

Preliminary round

Date: July 20, 1912

Only the winners know the exact times. The fastest runner in each case went to the next lap.

The times in brackets are estimates.

Preliminary round 1

space	Surname	nation	time
1	Edward Duffy	South Africa	11.6 s
2	Georgios Skoutarides	Greece	(11.9 s)
3	Victor Henny	Netherlands	k. A.

Duffy won by 3 yards .

Preliminary round 2

space	Surname	nation	time
1	John George	Great Britain	11.6 s
2	Oscar Guttormsen	Norway	(12.0 s)

George also won by 3 yards.

Preliminary round 3

space	Surname	nation	time
1	Nate Cartmell	United States	11.0 s
2	Georges Malfait	France	(11.2 s)
3	Arthur Hoffmann	German Empire	(11.4 s)
4th	Evert Koops	Netherlands	k. A.

Cartmell won by 2 yards.

Preliminary round 4

space	Surname	nation	time
1	Reggie Walker	South Africa	11.0 s
2	Jean Konings	Belgium	(11.6 s)
3	Denis Murray	Great Britain	k. A.
4th	Edgar Kiralfy	United States
5	Ernestus Greven	Netherlands

Walker won by 4 yards.

Preliminary round 5

space	Surname	nation	time
1	Robert Cloughen	United States	11.0 s
2	John Johansen	Norway	(11.7 s)
3	David Beland	Canada	k. A.
DNF	Henry Harmer	Great Britain

Cloughen won by 5 yards.

Preliminary round 6

space	Surname	nation	time
1	William W. May	United States	11.2 s
2	Victor Jacquemin	Belgium	(11.5 s)
3	L. Lescat	France	k. A.
4th	Mikhail Paskalides	Greece

May won by 3 yards.

Preliminary round 7

space	Surname	nation	time
1	Robert C. Duncan	Great Britain	11.4 s
2	Knut Stenborg	Sweden	(11.5 s)
3	Hans Eicke	German Empire	(11.6 s)
4th	Umberto Barrozzi	Italy	k. A.
5	Ragnar Stenberg	Grand Duchy of Finland

Duncan won by a yard.

Preliminary round 8

space	Surname	nation	time
1	Lester Stevens	United States	11.2 s
2	Knut Lindberg	Sweden	(11.2 s)
3	Heinrich Rehder	German Empire	(11.8 s)
4th	William Murray	Great Britain	k. A.

Stevens defeated Lindberg by only a few inches.

Preliminary round 9

space	Surname	nation	time
1	John W. Morton	Great Britain	11.2 s
2	Axel Petersen	Denmark	(11.5 s)
3	Jacobus Hoogveld	Netherlands	k. A.

Morton won by 3 yards.

Preliminary round 10

space	Surname	nation	time
1	Robert Kerr	Canada	11.0 s
2	M. Chapman	Great Britain	(11.3 s)
DNF	Paul Fischer	German Empire

Kerr won by 3 yards.

Preliminary round 11

space	Surname	nation	time
1	William Hamilton	United States	11.2 s
2	Pál Simon	Hungary	(11.5 s)
3	G. Lamotte	France	k. A.
DNF	Herbert Phillips	South Africa

Hamilton won by 3 yards.

Preliminary round 12

space	Surname	nation	time
1	Harold Huff	United States	11.4 s
2	Henry Pankhurst	Great Britain	(11.5 s)
3	Karl Fryksdahl	Sweden	k. A.

Huff won by a yard.

Preliminary round 13

space	Surname	nation	time
1	Lawson Robertson	United States	11.4 s
2	Frank Lukeman	Canada	(11.7 s)
3	Henri Meslot	France	k. A.
4th	Eduard Schönecker	Austria

Robertson won by 3 yards.

Preliminary round 14

space	Surname	nation	time
1	Nathaniel Sherman	United States	11.2 s
2	Louis Sebert	Canada	(11.7 s)
3	Harold Watson	Great Britain	k. A.
4th	Frigyes Wiesner	Hungary
5	Hermann von Boenninghausen	German Empire	(12.0 s)

Sherman won by 4 yards.

Preliminary round 15

space	Surname	nation	time
1	James Rector	United States	10.8 s ORe
2	Vilmos Rácz	Hungary	(11.4 s)
3	Willy Kohlmey	German Empire	(12.0 s)

Rector won and set the Olympic record.

Preliminary round 16

space	Surname	nation	time
1	James P. Stark	Great Britain	11.8 s
2	Gaspare Torretta	Italy	(12.0 s)

Stark won by 2 yards.

Preliminary round 17

space	Surname	nation	time
1	Patrick Roche	Great Britain	11.4 s
2	Carl Bechler	German Empire	(11.4 s)

Roche won by 2 yards.

Semifinals

Date: July 21, 1912

Only the winners know the exact times. The fastest runner in each semi-final reached the final.

The times in brackets are estimates.

Semi-final 1

space	Surname	nation	time
1	Reggie Walker	South Africa	10.8 s ORe
2	William W. May	United States	(11.0 s)
3	Patrick Roche	Great Britain	k. A.
4th	Lester Stevens	United States
DNS	Robert Cloughen	United States

Robert Cloughen did not show up to prepare for the final of the 200-meter run , in which he won the silver medal. After 50 meters, Reginald Walker took the lead, which he held until the finish, where he finally arrived a yard ahead of May. He was the second sprinter to set the Olympic record of 10.8 s at these Olympic Games. Its correct time was actually 10.7 s, but at that time it was rounded up to the nearest fifth according to the applicable rules. Its exact time was given as 10⅘ seconds.

Semi-final 2

space	Surname	nation	time
1	Robert Kerr	Canada	11.0 s
2	Nathaniel Sherman	United States	(11.3 s)
3	John W. Morton	Great Britain	k. A.
DNS	William Hamilton	United States

William Hamilton did not participate in order to focus on the final of the 200-meter run . Robert Kerr won by 3 yards.

Semi-final 3

space	Surname	nation	time
1	James Rector	United States	10.8 s ORe
2	Harold Huff	United States	(11.1 s)
3	Edward Duffy	South Africa	k. A.
4th	Robert Duncan	Great Britain

James Rector won and set the Olympic record for the second time.

Semi-final 4

space	Surname	nation	time
1	Nate Cartmell	United States	11.2 s
2	Lawson Robertson	United States	(11.2 s)
3	James P. Stark	Great Britain	k. A.
4th	John George	Great Britain

Nate Cartmell won a close race by just under 1 foot.

final

space	Surname	nation	time
1	Reggie Walker	South Africa	10.8 s ORe
2	James Rector	United States	(10.8 s)
3	Robert Kerr	Canada	(11.0 s)
4th	Nate Cartmell	United States	(11.2 s)

Date: July 22, 1912, around 4:15 p.m. local time

The times in brackets are estimates.

The big favorites were Reginald Walker and James Rector, both of whom had set the Olympic record during the course of the competition . Walker made a lightning start. Rector was able to catch up at half the distance and it seemed as if he could overtake Walker. But this countered the attack, pulled away and won by a tenth of a second - Walker's actual time was 10.7 s, but was officially rounded up to 10.8 s according to the regulations at the time. There was a similarly close decision in the battle for the bronze medal. In the video on YouTube - see below - it becomes clear that the Canadian Robert Kerr prevailed against Nate Cartmell only at the end. Cartmell then only let it coast to a halt, so that there was a gap of two tenths of a second at the finish. Kerr won 200 meters gold the day after that race .

At SportsReference , other times are given for the second and fourth, but they do not fit the description of the race and its close result between ranks one and two or three and four. The time information there is 11.0 s for the second and third and 11.2 s for the fourth.

• 

  Silver medalist James Rector from the United States

• 

  The American Robert Cloughen - here in 1907 - did not take part in his semi-final and won silver over 200 meters

• 

  Lawson Robertson - shown here on an advertising card from 19010 - failed in second place in his semi-final run

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

• SportsReference, Athletics at the 1908 London Summer Games: Men's 100 meters , English, accessed August 18, 2018
• Olympic Games London 1908, Athletics , IOC page on athletics at the 1908 Olympic Games at olympic.org, English, accessed 18 August 2018

Video

• Olympics 1908 100m on YouTube , accessed February 18, 2019.