1908 Summer Olympics / Figure Skating

Figure skating at the IV Summer Olympics
information
venue	London
Competition venue	Prince's Skating Club
Nations	6th
Athletes	21 (7 women, 14 men)
date	28-29 October 1908
decisions	4th
Antwerp 1920 →

At the IV Summer Olympic Games in London in 1908 , four figure skating competitions were held. These took place at Prince's Skating Club in Knightsbridge . It was the first time ever that a winter sport was included in the Olympic Games program, 16 years before the first Winter Games in Chamonix .

Balance sheet

Medal table

space	country				total
1	United Kingdom	1	2	3	6th
2	Sweden	1	1	1	3
3	German Empire	1	1	-	2
4th	Russia	1	-	-	1

Medalist

competitor	gold	silver	bronze
Men's	Ulrich Salchow	Richard Johansson	Per Thorén
Special figures	Nikolai Panin	Arthur Cumming	George Hall-Say
Ladies	Madge Syers	Elsa Rendschmidt	Dorothy Greenhough-Smith
Couples	Anna Hübler / Heinrich Burger	Phyllis Johnson / James H. Johnson	Madge Syers / Edgar Syers

Results

Men

Ulrich Salchow at the 1908 Olympic Games

space	country	athlete	Points
1	SWE	Ulrich Salchow	1886.5
2	SWE	Richard Johansson	1826.0
3	SWE	Per Thorén	1787.0
4th	GBR	John Keiller Greig	1554.5
5	GBR	Albert March	1160.0
6th	United States	Isaac Brokaw	1201.0
7th	ARG	Horatio Torromé	1144.5
	RUS	Nikolai Panin	DNF
	GBR	Herbert Yglesias	DNF

Date: October 28th and 29th

Nine runners from five countries took part. The competition consisted of two parts: In the compulsory seven different figures had to be run, which had to be repeated three times per foot. The next day's freestyle lasted five minutes.

A controversy arose around which different stories entwine. Nikolai Panin claimed to have been verbally attacked personally by Ulrich Salchow while he was on duty , which led to an unsuccessful protest by the Russian Federation. A second unsuccessful protest came when two out of five judges put Panin in first place in duty, but three did not.

Panin quote: "The composition of the judges was unfavorable for me, as there were two Swedes among them, a friend of Salchow's from Austria by the name of Hügel , and Wendt from Germany and Sanders from Russia - all in all five judges. Wendt and Sanders set me up in duty to first place, Swede Grenander in second place, nine points behind Salchow and 23 points ahead of Swede Per Thorén , who was third after duty, but the other judges, Swede Herle and Salchow's friend Hügel sat me down to fourth place. They did their job of ruining me, because according to the rules at the time, victory was decided by the least number of place numbers. "

The Russian felt that he was being treated unfairly, did not take part in the freestyle as a protest and let the reigning world champion Ulrich Salchow win without a fight. The silver and bronze medals also went to Richard Johansson and Per Thorén in Sweden . Johansson had narrowly defeated Salchow, who had run a large lead in duty, in the freestyle.

Special figures men

Nikolai Panin at the 1908 Olympic Games

space	country	athlete	Points
1	RUS	Nikolai Panin	219.0
2	GBR	Arthur Cumming	164.0
3	GBR	George Hall-Say	104.0

Date: October 29th

Three participants were registered for this competition, which was held only once at the Olympic Games. The aim of the special figures discipline was to “draw” symmetrical figures as precisely and artistically as possible with the runners in the ice. One week before the competition, each participant could report four freely chosen figures to the arbitration board, of which two were then run.

Panin's special figures at the 1908 Olympic Games

Nikolai Panin won confidently in his domain ahead of the British Arthur Cumming and George Hall-Say . It was the first ever Olympic gold medal for Russia. Ulrich Salchow had canceled his participation in this competition due to alleged illness.

Women

Madge and Edgar Syers at the 1908 Olympic Games

space	country	sportswoman	Points
1	GBR	Madge Syers	1262.5
2	GER	Elsa Rendschmidt	1055.0
3	GBR	Dorothy Greenhough-Smith	0960.5
4th	SWE	Elna Montgomery	0851.5
5	GBR	Gwendolyn Lycett	0820.0

Date: October 28th and 29th

There were five runners from three countries at the start. The competition was in two parts: Six different figures had to be run in the duty, which had to be repeated three times per foot. The free program on the following day lasted four minutes.

In the absence of Lily Kronberger and Jenny Herz , the first female world champion in history, Madge Syers , had no difficulty in becoming the first figure skating Olympic champion . Elsa Rendschmidt from the German Empire won the silver medal and the British Dorothy Greenhough-Smith the bronze medal. Rendschmidt's silver medal was the first Olympic medal for a German woman.

Couples

Anna Hübler and Heinrich Burger at the 1908 Olympic Games

space	country	Pair	Points
1	GER	Anna Hübler / Heinrich Burger	56.0
2	GBR	Phyllis Johnson / James H. Johnson	51.5
3	GBR	Madge Syers / Edgar Syers	48.0

Date: October 29th

There were three couples at the start. A five-minute freestyle, which should not contain any compulsory elements, was required.

Anna Hübler and Heinrich Burger from the German Empire became the first Olympic champions in pair skating . Madge Syers , who had already won gold in the individual race, won the bronze medal together with her husband Edgar Syers behind their compatriots Phyllis Johnson and James H. Johnson . Syers is the only woman who has won two medals in figure skating at the same Olympic Games. Hübler was the first German woman to become an Olympic champion.

Web links

Commons : 1908 Summer Olympics / Figure Skating  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Figure skating at the 1908 Summer Olympics in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ http://www.la84foundation.org/SportsLibrary/JSH/JSH1976/JSH0301/jsh0301d.pdf
2. ↑ http://www.la84foundation.org/SportsLibrary/JSH/JSH1976/JSH0301/jsh0301d.pdf
3. ↑ http://www.la84foundation.org/SportsLibrary/JSH/JSH1976/JSH0301/jsh0301d.pdf