1908 Summer Olympics / Athletics - 200 m (men)

sport	athletics
discipline	200 meter run
gender	Men
place	White City Stadium
Attendees	43 athletes from 15 countries
Competition phase	July 21-23, 1908
Medalist
gold	Robert Kerr ( CAN )
silver	Robert Cloughen ( USA )
bronze	Nate Cartmell ( USA )

The men's 200-meter run at the 1908 Olympic Games in London was decided on July 23, 1908 at the White City Stadium .

The Canadian Robert Kerr won Olympic gold . He won ahead of the two Americans Robert Cloughen and Nate Cartmell .

On the two days before there were preliminary and intermediate runs to determine the final field. The relatively large number of preliminary races can only be explained by the fact that numerous registered runners did not start. In two cases there was only a single runner left. It is not entirely clear whether these two preliminary runs actually took place or whether the participants reached the semi-finals without a fight.

Records

The world record given here was set in a race over 220  yards , which corresponds to 201.168 meters. World records were still unofficial back then.

World record	21.2 s	United States	Bernard Wefers	New York ( USA ), May 30, 1896
		United States	John Maybury	Chicago ( USA ), June 5, 1897
		United States	Bernard Wefers	Toronto ( Canada ), September 25, 1897
		United States	Dan Kelly	Spokane ( USA ), June 23, 1906
Olympic record	21.6 s	United States	Archie Hahn	Final of St. Louis ( USA ), August 31, 1904

Comment on the world record of 1906:
Dan Kelly ran on a straight track without a curve.

Results

Date: July 21, 1908

Only the preliminary winners qualified for the semifinals - colored light green.

The times in brackets are estimates.

1. Forward

space	athlete	country	Time (s)
1	John George	Great Britain	23.4
2	Victor Henry	Netherlands	k. A.

George won the run clearly by 10 yards .

2. Forward

space	athlete	country	Time (s)
1	Harry Huff	United States	22.8
2	Eddie Duffy	South Africa	(23.2)
3	Henk van der Wal	Netherlands	k. A.
4th	Knut Stenborg	Sweden

Duffy was a yard and a half behind.

3. Forward

space	athlete	country	Time (s)
1	Patrick Roche	Great Britain	22.8
2	Lawson Robertson	United States	(23.0)
3	Frank Lukeman	Canada	k. A.
4th	Evert Koops	Netherlands

Roche won by a yard.

4. Forward

space	athlete	country	Time (s)
1	Nate Cartmell	United States	23.0
2	Vilmos Rácz	Hungary	(23.3)
3	Ragnar Stenberg	Finland	k. A.

The Olympic runner-up from St. Louis won his run by two yards.

5. Forward

space	athlete	country	Time (s)
1	Georges Malfait	France	22.6
2	Robert Duncan	Great Britain	(23.1)

There was a four-yard gap between the two runners.

6. Forward

space	athlete	country	Time (s)
1	Sven Låftman	Sweden	23.8
2	Frigyes Mezei	Hungary	(24.0)
3	Ernestus Greven	Netherlands	k. A.

Låftman was two yards from Mezei. As the only preliminary winner, the Swede later decided not to take part in the intermediate run.

7. Forward

space	athlete	country	Time (s)
1	Károly Radóczy	Hungary	single-handedly

8. Forward

space	athlete	country	Time (s)
1	Robert Cloughen	United States	23.4
2	Umberto Barozzi	Italy	(24.1)

There was a six-yard gap between the two runners.

9. Forward

space	athlete	country	Time (s)
1	Samuel Hurdsfield	Great Britain	23.6
2	Mikhail Paskhalidis	Greece	(24.0)

There was a yard and a half between the two runners.

10. Forward

space	athlete	country	Time (s)
1	William Hamilton	United States	22.4
2	Lou Sebert	Canada	(22.8)
3	Henry Pankhurst	Great Britain	k. A.
4th	Pál Simon	Hungary
5	Fernand Halbart	Belgium

Hamilton won by a margin of three yards.

11. Forward

space	athlete	country	Time (s)
1	Robert Kerr	Canada	22.2
2	William W. May	United States	(22.7)
3	James P. Stark	Great Britain	k. A.
4th	Knut Lindberg	Sweden
5	Emilio Brambilla	Italy

Kerr won by two and a half yards.

12. Forward

space	athlete	country	Time (s)
1	Nathaniel Sherman	United States	22.8
2	Jack Morton	Great Britain	(23.1)
3	Edi Schönecker	Austria	k. A.
4th	Cornelis the hero	Netherlands

Sherman won by two yards.

13. Forward

space	athlete	country	Time (s)
1	Lionel Reed	Great Britain	23.2
2	Arthur Hoffmann	Germany	(23.5)

There were two and a half yards between the two runners.

14. Forward

space	athlete	country	Time (s)
1	Oscar Guttormsen	Norway	single-handedly

15. Forward

space	athlete	country	Time (s)
1	George Hawkins	Great Britain	22.8
2	Henri Meslot	France	(23.2)
3	Jacobus Hoogveld	Netherlands	k. A.

Hawkins won by three yards.

Semifinals

Date: July 22nd

Only the semi-final winners - colored light green - qualified for the final.

The times in brackets are estimates.

1st semifinals

space	athlete	country	Time (s)
1	Robert Kerr	Canada	22.6
2	William Hamilton	United States	(22.7)
3	Károly Radóczy	Hungary	k. A.
4th	Oscar Guttormsen	Norway

The two fastest preliminary winners met directly, so that one of them had to miss the final. Kerr narrowly prevailed, and Radóczy followed a little further.

2nd semifinals

space	athlete	country	Time (s)
1	Nate Cartmell	United States	22.6
2	Nathaniel Sherman	United States	(22.9)
3	Harry Huff	United States	k. A.

Cartmell won by a yard and a half over the closely spaced competitors.

3rd semifinals

space	athlete	country	Time (s)
1	Robert Cloughen	United States	22.6
2	Lionel Reed	Great Britain	(22.8)
3	John George	Great Britain	k. A.
4th	Samuel Hurdsfield	Great Britain

Cloughen won by a yard.

4th semifinals

space	athlete	country	Time (s)
1	George Hawkins	Great Britain	22.6
2	Patrick Roche	Great Britain	(22.6)
3	Georges Malfait	France	k. A.

Hawkins was only a foot ahead at the finish .

final

Date: July 23

space	athlete	country	Time (s)
1	Robert Kerr	Canada	22.6
2	Robert Cloughen	United States	k. A.
3	Nate Cartmell	United States	k. A.
4th	George Hawkins	Great Britain	k. A.

The Canadian Robert Kerr took a clear lead after a hundred meters with a fast cornering. His opponents came up on the second half of the route. Robert Cloughen in particular, who had skipped his 100 meter semi-final in order to be fit for the 200 meter race, was very quick on the home straight and jumped across the finish line. But it was no longer enough, Kerr stayed razor-thin. A distance of two feet decided gold and silver.

Like the silver medalist, the Olympic champion had Irish roots. In 1896, at the age of four, Robert Kerr had emigrated with his parents to a farm in Hamilton , Canada. Robert Cloughen, born in New York City, wasn't even on the official US team. His association, the Irish-American AC, to which immigrants with Irish ancestors belonged, had registered him for the sprint competitions - a specialty that was still possible in the early years of Olympic history.

• 

  Silver medalist Robert Cloughen, USA

• 

  The US-American William Hamilton was narrowly defeated in the first 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

• Sports-Reference, Athletics at the 1908 London Summer Games: Men's 200 meters , English, accessed August 19, 2018
• Olympic Games London 1908, Athletics, 200m men , IOC page on athletics at the 1908 Olympic Games at olympic.org, English, accessed 19 August 2018

Individual evidence

1. ^ Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 1: 1896–1936, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 2nd edition 1970, p. 72
2. ↑ Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 1: 1896-1936, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 2nd edition 1970, pp. 71f