1908 Summer Olympics / Athletics - Greek Style Discus Throw (Men)

sport	athletics
discipline	Discus throw (greek style)
gender	Men
place	White City Stadium
Attendees	23 athletes from 8 countries
Competition phase	July 18, 1908
Medalist
gold	Martin Sheridan ( USA )
silver	Bill Horr ( USA )
bronze	Verner Järvinen ( FIN )

The men's discus throw in the Greek style at the 1908 London Olympics was decided on July 18, 1908 at the White City Stadium . On the morning of the same day a qualification took place, from which three athletes qualified for the competition.

The American Martin Sheridan became Olympic champion . His compatriot Bill Horr won the silver medal. Bronze went to Verner Järvinen from Finland .

This competition was introduced at the Olympic Intermediate Games in Athens in 1906 and disappeared again after 1908. There are different representations for carrying out this throwing. According to the sources, a platform measuring 80 × 70 cm was used, which was 15 cm high at the back and 5 cm in the direction of throw.

• In the literature mentioned below, Kluge describes that throwing was carried out from this pedestal, based on the ancient model with forward and backward swing, but without rotation.
• According to the below-mentioned book by zur Megede , the pedestal was only stepped on in a symbolic act and the throw itself was then carried out analogously to free style.
• Other sources name a disc that, at five kilograms, was three kilograms heavier than the regular disc. However, this does not fit the widths achieved here, which would certainly not have been possible with such a heavy device. This seems to be more related to the ancient Olympic Games in Greece.

At Sports-Reference there are no references to the question of the execution of the throw.

Records

There is no solid information about a world record in this discipline. Due to the general lack of clarity about the execution of the throwing and since the competition was only on the program of the Olympic Games once, it also makes little sense to set records here.

Results

qualification

The qualification was held in four staggered groups. The results of these groups were combined. Only the best three participants in the qualification - highlighted in green - were able to contest the final competition. However, the performance achieved in the qualification was taken into account in the evaluation of the final result. In both the qualification and the final, the participants had three attempts each.

The listing of the preliminary round results is based on Sports Reference . At Kluge and zur Megede there are significant deviations with regard to the qualification results, which are noted below.

Group A

athlete	country	Width (m)
Michalis Dorizas	Greece	33.34
Wilbur Burroughs	United States	32.81
Umberto Avattaneo	Italy	28.53
Platt Adams	United States	k. A.
Miroslav Šustera	Bohemia
Henry Leeke	Great Britain
Walter Henderson	Great Britain

Platt Adams is not named as a participant in either Kluge or zur Megede . For Umberto Avattaneo, both authors do not list a width.

Group B

athlete	country	Width (m)
Arthur Dearborn	United States	35.65
Nikolaos Georgandas	Greece	33.21
Folke Fleetwood	Sweden	k. A.
Imre Mudin	Hungary

Folke Fleetwood is not a participant in Kluge and zur Megede .

Group C

athlete	country	Width (m)
Istvan Mudin	Hungary	33.11
Elmer Niklander	Finland	32.46
John Garrels	United States	k. A.
Ernest May	Great Britain
Alfred Flaxman	Great Britain

Elmer Niklander from Group C is missing from the listings at Kluge and Megede .

Group D

athlete	country	Width (m)
Martin Sheridan	United States	37.28
Bill Horr	United States	36.68
Verner Järvinen	Finland	36.48
Mór Kóczán	Hungary	k. A.
John Barrett	Great Britain
György Luntzer	Hungary
Eric Lemming	Sweden

For this group there are two athletes who do not appear at Kluge and zur Megede , they are Mór Kóczán and John Barrett.

The following participants are named at Kluge and zur Megede without any width or information about the assignment to a qualification group, which is missing from Sports-Reference :

• Lauri Wilskman ( Finland ) 
• Jalmari Sauli ( Finland ) 
• Ferenc Jesina ( Hungary ) 
• Lee Talbott ( USA ) 
• Ralph Rose ( USA ) 
• Emil Welz ( Germany ) 

Final and final result

The best ten according to Sports Reference space Surname country Width (m) 1 Martin Sheridan  United States 37.99 2 Bill Horr  United States 37.32 3 Verner Järvinen  Finland 36.48 4th Arthur Dearborn  United States 35.65 5 Michalis Dorizas  Greece 33.34 6th Nikolaos Georgandas  Greece 33.21 7th Istvan Mudin  HUN 33.11 8th Wilbur Burroughs  United States 32.81 9 Elmer Niklander  Finland 32.46 10 Umberto Avattaneo  Italy 28.53

The best eight according to Kluge space Surname country Width (m) 1 Martin Sheridan  United States 38.00 2 Bill Horr  United States 37.32 3 Verner Järvinen  Finland 36.48 4th Arthur Dearborn  United States 35.65 5 Michalis Dorizas  Greece 33.35 6th Nikolaos Georgandas  Greece 33.20 7th Istvan Mudin  HUN 33.11 8th Wilbur Burroughs  United States 32.73 Elmer Niklander not listed - also missing from the Megede Umberto Avattaneo, as in the case of the Megede, was named without specifying the width

Here in London , as in the free style, the American Martin Sheridan won. Marquis Bill Horr, bronze medalist in free style discus throwing, won silver this time. Verner Järvinen, father of the two later world-class athletes Matti Järvinen - javelin thrower and Akilles Järvinen - decathlete , won the bronze medal after finishing fourth with the free style discus. Behind him, Arthur Dearborn, fifth and world record holder for free discus throwing, finished fourth, ahead of the two Greeks Michalis Dorizas and Nikolaos Georgandas. The latter had won bronze in free style four years earlier in St. Louis .

• 

  The American Olympic champion Martin Sheridan, also winner of the free discus throw in 1908 and  1904

• 

  Silver medalist Marquis Bill Horr, also Olympic knight in discus throwing, free style, as well as in the shot put in fifth place - here in 1907

• 

  The Olympic third Verner Järvinen, also fourth in the discus throw, free style, and winner of the interim games in 1906 in the Greek style

• 

  The world record holder of the free discus throw Arthur Dearborn - here as a shot putter - took fourth place

• 

  The Greek Olympic third in the free discus throw of 1904 Nikolaos Georgandas finished sixth

• 

  The Hungarian István Mudin came in seventh place

• 

  The US Olympic eighth Wilbur Burroughs, also tenth of the free discus throw

• 

  The Finn Elmer Niklander, much more successful in upcoming games, finished ninth

• 

  The American Olympic champion in the standing vault of 1912 Platt Adams, also in 1908 with top positions in the standing vaults, was eliminated in the preliminary fight

• 

  As in free style, the Hungarian Imre Mudin did not reach the final

• 

  For the American John Garrels, Olympic knight in the shot put, it was over after qualifying as in free style

• 

  The Hungarian György Luntzer, active as a track and field athlete and wrestler, did not make it to the final

• 

  As in the free style, the Swede Eric Lemming, much more successful than javelin thrower , failed in the qualification

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 100 meters , English, accessed September 1, 2018
• Olympic Games London 1908, Athletics , IOC page on athletics at the 1908 Olympic Games at olympic.org, English, accessed September 1, 2018

Individual evidence

1. ↑ German record at the 4th Retrolympics on retrolympics.de (PDF), accessed on September 1, 2018
2. ↑ History of lawn power sports at www.phoenix-rks-mutterstadt.de, accessed on September 1, 2018