1908 Summer Olympics / Athletics - Triple Jump (Men)

sport	athletics
discipline	Triple jump
gender	Men
place	White City Stadium
Attendees	20 athletes from 8 countries
Competition phase	July 25, 1908
Medalist
gold	Tim Ahearne ( GBR )
silver	Garfield MacDonald ( CAN )
bronze	Edvard Larsen ( NOR )

The men's triple jump at the 1908 Olympic Games in London was decided on July 22, 1908 at the White City Stadium . On the morning of the same day a qualification took place, from which three jumpers qualified for the competition. For the first time ever, the order in which the legs were used was precisely laid down in the regulations in the same form as it is today, i.e. the first two partial jumps must be performed with the same leg and the third partial jump with the other.

The Irishman Tim Ahearne starting for Great Britain became Olympic champion. Garfield MacDonald from Canada won the silver medal, bronze went to the Norwegian Edvard Larsen .

Records

The world records were still unofficial back then. There are still different versions of the world record holder. The American Edward Bloss is also given with his 14.78 m from 1893. The reason for this inconsistency is the fact that in the early years of athletics there was no binding rule for the order of the take-off leg for the three ground contacts during the jump. The current standard, in which the first two partial jumps are to be performed with the same leg and the third partial jump with the other, has not always been used. But the Irish expert Tony O'Donaghue determined in detailed research that the Irish John Breshnihan had already jumped 15.34 m in 1906. In the 1908 games, however, the rule problem ended with a clear stipulation.

World record	15.34 m	Ireland	John Breshnihan	Bandon ( Ireland ), August 26, 1906
Olympic record	14.47 m	United States	Meyer Prinstein	Paris finals ( FRA ), July 16, 1900

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

OR	14.72 m	Great Britain	Tim Ahearne	qualification
	14.76 m	Canada	Garfield MacDonald	Final battle
	14.92 m	Great Britain	Tim Ahearne

Results

qualification

The qualification was held in three staggered groups. The results of these groups were combined. Only the best three jumpers of the qualification could contest the final competition. The results achieved in the preliminary fight were included in the overall ranking. In both the qualification and the final, the participants had three attempts each.

Group A

athlete	country	Width (m)
Platt Adams	United States	14.07
Karl Fryksdahl	Sweden	13.65
Martin Sheridan	United States	13.42
Cyril Dugmore	Great Britain	13.31
Henry Olsen	Norway	13.17
Dimitrios Müller	Greece	13.09
Frank Irons	United States	12.67

Group B

athlete	country	Width (m)
Tim Ahearne	Great Britain	14.72 OR
Garfield MacDonald	Canada	14.12
John Brennan	United States	13.59
Doug Stupart	South Africa	13.40
Oscar Guttormsen	Norway	13.16
Samuel Bellah	United States	12.55
Nathaniel Sherman	United States	k. A.
George Mayberry	Great Britain
Juho Halme	Finland

Group C

athlete	country	Width (m)
Edvard Larsen	Norway	14.37
Calvin Bricker	Canada	14.10
Frank Mount Pleasant	United States	13.97
Michael Dineen	Great Britain	13.23

Final and final result of the best twelve

space	athlete	country	Width (m)
1	Tim Ahearne	Great Britain	14.92 OR
2	Garfield MacDonald	Canada	14.76
3	Edvard Larsen	Norway	14.39
4th	Calvin Bricker	Canada	14.09
5	Platt Adams	United States	14.07
6th	Frank Mount Pleasant	United States	13.97
7th	Karl Fryksdahl	Sweden	13.65
8th	John Brennan	United States	13.59
9	Martin Sheridan	United States	13.42
10	Doug Stupart	South Africa	13.40
11	Cyril Dugmore	Great Britain	13.31
12	Michael Dineen	Great Britain	13.23

All three finalists were able to improve again. The competition was very exciting. Garfield MacDonald led up to and including the fifth round. Then Tim Ahearne increased and achieved the winning distance and the new Olympic record with his last jump , which was initially proclaimed as a world record . But detailed research revealed that the Irishman John Breshnihan had already jumped 15.34 m in 1906.

Third place went to Edvard Larsen from Norway, ahead of Canadian Calvin Bricker, bronze medalist in the long jump . Fifth was the American Platt Adams, who also achieved good placements in the standing jump competitions and won gold in the standing vault in 1912 . The double Olympic champion in the discus throw from 1904 and 1908, Martin Sheridan, also took part in this competition, but injured himself after his first attempt, so that no further jumps were possible. He finished ninth in the end.

• 

  The Canadian Olympic Fourth Calvin Bricker, also bronze medalist in the long jump , here in 1912, when he long jump runner-up in Stockholm  was

• 

  The US American Platt Adams, Olympic champion in standing vault in 1912 , was Olympic five

• 

  The American Frank Mount Pleasant came in sixth as in the long jump

• 

  The American double Olympic champion in the discus throw of 1904 and 1908, Martin Sheridan, came in ninth

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 Triple Jump , accessed August 30, 2018
• Olympic Games London 1908, Athletics , IOC page on athletics at the 1908 Olympic Games at olympic.org, English, accessed 30 August 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. 87