1908 Summer Olympics / Athletics - High Jump (Men)

sport	athletics
discipline	high jump
gender	Men
place	White City Stadium
Attendees	22 athletes from 10 countries
Competition phase	July 21, 1908
Medalist
gold	Harry Porter ( USA )
silver	Con Leahy ( GBR )
	István Somodi ( HUN )
	Géo André ( FRA )
bronze	not forgiven

The men's high jump at the 1908 London Olympics was decided on July 21, 1908 at the White City Stadium . On the morning of the same day, a qualification took place from which eight jumpers qualified for the competition.

The American Harry Porter became Olympic champion . The silver medal was awarded to three jumpers who were tied according to the rules in force at the time: Con Leahy from Great Britain, István Somodi from Hungary and Géo André from France.

Records

The world records were still unofficial back then.

World record	1.97 m	United States	Michael Sweeney	New York ( USA ), September 21, 1895
Olympic record	1.90 m	United States	Irving Baxter	Paris finals ( FRA ), July 15, 1900

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

OR	1.905 m	United States	Harry Porter	qualification
ORe	1.905 m			final

Results

qualification

The qualification was held in four staggered groups. The results of these groups were combined. Finally, all jumpers who had crossed 1.80 m qualified for the final fight. After the competition of the first group, the jury decided to carry out the further jumps in a different area of ​​the stadium where the run-up track was less slippery. After a protest by the American Herbert Gidney, the first group there also got another chance to qualify. The first qualification in this group was canceled.

In contrast to today, the performance achieved in the qualification was taken into account in the evaluation of the final result.

Group A - 1st canceled event

athlete	country	Height (m)
Otto Monsen	Norway	1.79
Edward Leader	Great Britain
Herbert Gidney	United States	1.77
József Haluszinsky	Hungary	1.72
Lauri Wilksman	Finland	1.67
Alfred Bellerby	Great Britain	1.55

Group A - 2nd edition

athlete	country	Height (m)
Herbert Gidney	United States	1.85
Edward Leader	Great Britain	1.77
József Haluszinsky	Hungary	1.72
Alfred Bellerby	Great Britain	1.59
Otto Monsen	Norway	DNS
Lauri Wilksman	Finland

Group B

athlete	country	Height (m)
Con Leahy	Great Britain	1.88
Géo André	France
Neil Patterson	United States	1.83
Axel Hedenlund	Sweden	1.80
Patrick Leahy	Great Britain	1.78
Henry Olsen	Norway	1.72
Garfield MacDonald	Canada
Lauri Pihkala	Finland	1.67

Group C

athlete	country	Height (m)
Harry Porter	United States	1.905 OR
Tom Moffitt	United States	1,850
István Somodi	Hungary
Folke Hellstedt	Sweden	1.670
Léon Dupont	Belgium
Herman van Leeuwen	Netherlands	1,650

Group D

athlete	country	Height (m)
George Barber	Canada	1.77
Haswell Wilson	Great Britain

final

space	Surname	nation	? m	1,830 m	1,850 m	1,880 m	1.905 m	1,970 m	Bottom line	annotation
1	Harry Porter	United States	?	?	?	O	O	xxx	1.905	ORe
2	Con Leahy	Great Britain	?	?	?	O	xxx		1,880
	István Somodi	Hungary	?	?	?	xo	xxx
	Géo André	France	?	?	?	xxo	xxx
5	Herbert Gidney	United States	?	?	??O	xxx			1,850
	Tom Moffitt	United States	?	?	??O	xxx
7th	Neil Patterson	United States	?	??O	xxx				1,830
Axel Hedenlund	Sweden							DNS

Annotation:

For the values ​​below 1,880 m, it is not known in which attempt the height was jumped and whether it was approached or omitted. There is also no information about the entry height. Based on the results of the qualification, it can be assumed that the competition did not start at 1,830 m. Successful attempts and failed jumps from 1,880 m and higher are secured by the information provided by Sports-Reference .

If the participants had jumped better heights in the qualification than in the final, they remained in the ranking. However, this regulation did not have to be applied because all athletes achieved at least their performance from the preliminary competition. Porter jumped the winning height in the first attempt and then tried in vain to Michael Sweeney's world record . In a playoff for second place, the Hungarian István Somodi, the UK-based Cornelius Leahy from Ireland and the French Géo André could not improve and were jointly declared silver medal winners. According to the failed attempt rule introduced later, Leahy (1.88 m in the first attempt) would have been ahead of Somodi (second attempt) and André (third attempt). But judgments are of course made according to the applicable rules.

Géo André was only 19 years old at the time, still had a long sports career ahead of him and also competed in hurdles , among other things . Olympic champion Harry Porter was already 34 years old.

• 

  American Olympic champion Harry Porter on a advertising card from 1910

• 

  The Olympic runner-up Con Leahy from Great Britain

• 

  Silver medalist István Somodi, Hungary

• 

  Géo André from France - here in 1914, also runner-up in the Olympics

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 High Jump , accessed August 30, 2018
• Olympic Games London 1908, Athletics, high jump men , 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. 85