1908 Summer Olympics / Athletics - 1500 m (men)

sport	athletics
discipline	1500 meter run
gender	Men
place	White City Stadium
Attendees	44 athletes from 15 countries
Competition phase	13./14. July 1908
Medalist
gold	Mel Sheppard ( USA )
silver	Harold Wilson ( GBR )
bronze	Norman Hallows ( GBR )

The 1,500-meter race of the men at the 1908 Olympic Games in London on July 14, 1908 in White City Stadium decided. The day before, the finalists were determined in eight preliminary runs.

The American Mel Sheppard became Olympic champion . Silver went to the Briton Harold Wilson , bronze went to his compatriot Norman Hallows .

Records

The existing world record was still unofficial at the time.

World record	3: 59.8 min	Great Britain	Harold Wilson	London ( Great Britain ), May 30, 1908
Olympic record	4: 05.4 min	United States	James Lightbody	St. Louis Finale ( USA ), September 3, 1904

The following records were broken or set in this discipline at the 1908 Olympic Games:

OR	4: 05.0 min	United States	Mel Sheppard	2. Forward
OR	4: 03.4 min	Great Britain	Norman Hallows	3. Forward
ORe	4: 03.4 min	United States	Mel Sheppard	Final run

Results

Prelim (July 13th)

Only the respective race winners from the eight preliminary runs qualified for the final. This regulation had the consequence that the Italian Emilio Lunghi was eliminated with 4: 03.8 min. His time would have been enough for a medal in the final, but Lunghi was only second to Norman Hallows in his semifinals. After all, Lunghi received an honorary diploma for his performance and won the silver medal over 800 meters a week later .

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

1. Forward

space	athlete	country	Time (min)
1	James Sullivan	United States	4: 07.6
2	James Lightbody	United States	(4: 08.6)
3	Fred Meadows	Canada	(4: 12.2)
4th	Francis Knott	Great Britain	k. A.
5	Joseph Smith	Great Britain
6th	Louis Bonniot de Fleurac	France
7th	Nils Dahl	Norway
8th	Ödön Bodor	Hungary
9	Jacques Keyser	Netherlands

Sullivan beat the two-time Olympic champion of 1904 by six yards . For Meadows another 14 yards are indicated, all other runners were far behind.

2. Forward

space	athlete	country	Time (min)
1	Mel Sheppard	United States	4: 05.0 OR
2	John Halstead	United States	(4: 05.6)
3	George Butterfield	Great Britain	(4: 11.8)
4th	John Lee	Great Britain	k. A.
5	Joseph Lynch	Australasia
6th	Kjeld Nielsen	Denmark
7th	Arno Hesse	Germany

Sheppard won his run just ahead of Halstead, who followed one yard behind. There were three yards between Butterfield and Lee, although they were more behind the Americans. The first name of the seven-man German Hesse is named in the literature mentioned below from zur Megede with Alfred.

3. Forward

space	athlete	country	Time (min)
1	Norman Hallows	Great Britain	4: 03.4 OR
2	Emilio Lunghi	Italy	(4: 03.8)
	Massimo Cartasegna	Italy	DNF
	Frank Riley	United States
	Evert Bjorn	Sweden
	Charles Swain	Australasia

Lunghi followed closely on Hallows and also stayed below the previous Olympic record. All other runners gave up prematurely , according to Sports-Reference . At the Megede , Cartasegna, Riley and Björn are listed in places four to six without any time information. Swain is not listed in either Kluge or zur Megede .

4. Forward

space	athlete	country	Time (min)
1	Ernest Loney	Great Britain	4: 08.4
2	Harry Coe	United States	(4: 09.2)
3	John McGough	Great Britain	(4: 16.4)
4th	Stylianos Dimitriou	Greece	k. A.
5	Joseph Dreher	France

Only Coe could keep up with Loney and was two yards behind at the finish. For McGough it was already 30 yards, the other runners were even more clearly inferior.

5. Forward

space	athlete	country	Time (min)
1	John Tait	Canada	4: 12.2
2	József Nagy	Hungary	(4: 19.6)
3	Fredrik Svanström	Finland	(4: 25.2)
	Gaston Ragueneau	France	DNF

Tait won by 50 yards over Nagy despite a moderate time. The other runners followed even further behind. Ragueneau is ranked 4th at zur Megede .

6. Forward

space	athlete	country	Time (min)
1	Joe Deakin	Great Britain	4: 13.6
2	Andreas Breynk	Germany	(4: 30.0)
3	Aria Vosbergen	Netherlands	(4: 38.2)

Despite moderate time, Deakin won with 75 and 200 yards ahead of his two competitors.

7. Forward

space	athlete	country	Time (min)
1	Harold Wilson	Great Britain	4: 11.4
2	Jean Bouin	France	(4: 17.0)
3	William Galbraith	Canada	(4: 20.2)

Wilson won by 30 yards.

8. Forward

space	athlete	country	Time (min)
1	Ivo Fairbairn-Crawford	Great Britain	4: 09.4
2	Edward Dahl	Sweden	(4: 10.4)
3	Hanns Braun	Germany	(4: 18.2)
4th	Oscar Larsen	Norway	k. A.
5	François Delloye	Belgium
6th	Axel Andersson	Sweden
7th	John Fitzgerald	Canada

The winner was four yards ahead. There were 20 yards between the second and third.

Final (July 14th)

space	athlete	country	Time (min)
1	Mel Sheppard	United States	4: 03.4 ORe
2	Harold Wilson	Great Britain	4: 03.6
3	Norman Hallows	Great Britain	4: 04.0
4th	John Tait	Canada	4: 06.8
5	Ivo Fairbairn-Crawford	Great Britain	4: 07.6
6th	Joe Deakin	Great Britain	4; 07.9
	James Sullivan	United States	DNF
	Ernest Loney	Great Britain

In uncomfortable weather conditions, Ivo Fairbairn-Crawford led the first 500 meters of the final, but he then fell back and came in fifth. A group of three, consisting of Harold Wilson, Norman Hallows and Mel Sheppard, took the lead. World record holder Wilson led until a few meters from the finish before Sheppard caught him with his final sprint. Hallows was also only slightly behind, but clearly prevailed over the second group of three. Mel Sheppard equalized the Olympic record set by Hallows in the semifinals and won his first gold medal of these games. Two Olympic victories were to follow later over 800 meters and in the Olympic relay.

The times given for the first three are consistent in the literature from zur Megede and Sports-Reference listed below . The performances of the fourth to sixth can be found at Sports-Reference . It is also noted there that the times from second place are estimated.

• 

  Final entry with Mel Sheppard at the top as Olympic champion

• 

  The Olympic runner-up Harold Wilson, world record holder from Great Britain

• 

  Bronze medalist Norman Hallows, Great Britain

• 

  The Briton Joe Deakin was sixth in the Olympics

• 

  The Frenchman Jean Bouin - later very successful at the Olympic long distances - was eliminated in the preliminary run

• 

  The US-American Harry Coe - here as second from the right in the Michigan Four-Mile team failed as second in his run

• 

  The Italian Emilio Lunghi did not reach the final despite an excellent time

• 

  The three-time Olympic champion of 1904 James Lightbody was eliminated this time in the preliminary run

• 

  The German Hanns Braun, later Olympic knight over 800 meters - here in 1913 - had no chance in his preliminary 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 1500 meters , English, accessed August 26, 2018
• Olympic Games London 1908, Athletics, 1500m men , IOC page on athletics at the 1908 Olympic Games at olympic.org, English, accessed 26 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. 77