1908 Summer Olympics / Athletics - 110 m hurdles (men)

sport	athletics
discipline	110 meter hurdles
gender	Men
place	White City Stadium
Attendees	25 athletes from 10 countries
Competition phase	23/24/25 July 1908
Medalist
gold	Forrest Smithson ( USA )
silver	John Garrels ( USA )
bronze	Arthur Shaw ( USA )

The men's 110-meter hurdles at the 1908 Olympic Games in London was decided on July 25, 1908 at the White City Stadium . On the two days before there were preliminary and intermediate runs to determine the final field.

It was not run on the stadium's cinder track, but on a grass track inside.

The Americans had a triple success. Olympic champion was Forrest Smithson , silver went to John Garrels , bronze went to Arthur Shaw .

Records

The world record was still unofficial at the time and was achieved in all three cases over 120  yards , which corresponds to 109.728 meters, which means that the distance was actually too short. According to the rules in force today, recognition would not be possible. In the literature by Kluge mentioned below , a record time of 15.4 s is listed. In Sports-Reference , only John Garrels and Arthur Shaw are listed as world record holders without the year, the time is also given there as 15.4 s.

World record	15.2 s	United States	Alvin Kraenzlein	Chicago ( USA ), June 18, 1898
		United States	John Garrels	June 1, 1907
		United States	Arthur Shaw	May 29, 1908
Olympic record	15.4 s	United States	Alvin Kraenzlein	Paris finals ( FRA ), July 14, 1900

The following records were broken or set at the Olympic Games:

ORe	15.4 s	United States	Forrest Smithson	Intermediate run
WR	15.0 s			Final run

Results

Preliminary runs (July 21)

The relatively large number of preliminary races can only be explained by the fact that significantly more runners were registered, but then did not start. In several cases there was only a single runner left. It is unclear whether these prelims were actually held. Presumably the runners concerned came into the intermediate run without a fight.

Only the respective race winners qualified for the intermediate runs.

The times given in brackets come from the literature by zur Megede mentioned below and are probably estimated.

1. Forward

space	athlete	country	Time (s)
1	Alfred Healey	Great Britain	15.8
2	Henry St. Aubyn Murray	Australasia	(16.3)
3	Doug Stupart	South Africa	k. A.

Healey won by four yards .

2. Forward

space	athlete	country	Time (s)
1	John Garrels	United States	16.2
2	Arthur Halligan	Great Britain	k. A.

Halligan was 7 yards back.

3. Forward

space	athlete	country	Time (s)
1	Oswald Groenings	Great Britain	16.4
2	Georgios Skoutaridis	Greece	k. A.

Groenings won by five yards.

4. Forward

space	athlete	country	Time (s)
	Laurence Kiely	Great Britain	single-handedly

5. Forward

space	athlete	country	Time (s)
1	William Rand	United States	15.8
2	Kenneth Powell	Great Britain	(16.2)
3	Ted Savage	Canada	k. A.

The winner was three yards ahead.

6. Forward

space	athlete	country	Time (s)
1	Wallis Walters	Great Britain	17.8
	Oscar Lemming	Sweden	DNF

7. Forward

space	athlete	country	Time (s)
	William Knyvett	Great Britain	single-handedly

8. Forward

space	athlete	country	Time (s)
	Fernand Halbart	Belgium	single-handedly

9. Forward

space	athlete	country	Time (s)
	Tim Ahearne	Great Britain	single-handedly

10. Forward

space	athlete	country	Time (s)
1	Forrest Smithson	United States	15.8
2	Nándor Kovács	Hungary	k. A.

The favorite clearly wins with a lead of ten yards.

11. Forward

space	athlete	country	Time (s)
1	Eric Hussey	Great Britain	16.8
	Wilhelm Blystad	Norway	DNF

12. Forward

space	athlete	country	Time (s)
1	Cecil Kinahan	Great Britain	16.8
2	Oscar Guttormsen	Norway	k. A.

Kinahan won by a margin of ten yards.

13. Forward

space	athlete	country	Time (s)
1	Leonard Howe	United States	15.8
2	Edward Leader	Great Britain	(16.1)

Howe won by a yard and a half.

14. Forward

space	athlete	country	Time (s)
	Arthur Shaw	United States	single-handedly

Intermediate runs (July 23)

Since the Belgian Halbart did not compete, the intermediate runs became an internal matter for the British and US runners. The Americans prevailed in all four races.

The times given in brackets come from the literature by zur Megede mentioned below and are probably estimated.

1st intermediate run

space	athlete	country	Time (s)
1	Arthur Shaw	United States	15.6
2	Eric Hussey	Great Britain	(16.5)
3	Wallis Walters	Great Britain	k. A.
4th	Oswald Groenings	Great Britain

Shaw won easily with six and eight yards from Hussey and Walters.

2nd intermediate run

space	athlete	country	Time (s)
1	Forrest Smithson	United States	15.4 ORe
2	William Knyvett	Great Britain	k. A.
3	Leonard Howe	United States

In a top-class intermediate run, Smithson equalized the Olympic record . Knyvett and Howe were just behind.

3rd intermediate run

space	athlete	country	Time (s)
1	William Rand	United States	15.8
2	Alfred Healey	Great Britain	(15.9)
3	Laurence Kiely	Great Britain	k. A.
4th	Tim Ahearne	Great Britain

Rand won just one foot against Healey.

4. Intermediate run

space	athlete	country	Time (s)
1	John Garrels	United States	16.2
2	Cecil Kinahan	Great Britain	k. A.
	Fernand Halbart	Belgium	DNS

With a ten-yard lead, there was no doubt that the American would win.

Final (July 23)

The times given in brackets come from the information at Sports-Reference and Megede and are estimated.

space	athlete	country	Time (s)
1	Forrest Smithson	United States	15.0 WR
2	John Garrels	United States	(15.7)
3	Arthur Shaw	United States	(15.8)
4th	William Rand	United States	(16.0)

The superior winner of the final run was Forrest Smithson, who clearly undercut the previous world record set by the three Americans Alvin Kraenzlein , John Garrels and Arthur Shaw. The three outstanding hurdles of their time, who won the medals here, had never competed against each other before. The later widespread legend that Smithson entered the race with a Bible in his left hand to protest against the event on a Sunday is proven to be false. First, there was no competition at all on Sunday, and second, the photo featured in the official report shows a post-race scene. However, during training, when others were watching, he is said to have often walked with a book in hand to impress his opponents.

• 

  Olympic champion Forrest Smithson - here in a scene that was subsequently posed with a book in hand

• 

  The American silver medalist John Garrels, in the photo as a discus thrower

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 110 meters Hurdles , accessed August 27, 2018
• Olympic Games London 1908, Athletics , IOC page on athletics at the 1908 Olympic Games at olympic.org, English, accessed August 27, 2018

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 1: 1896-1936, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 2nd edition 1970, p. 83