1908 Summer Olympics / Swimming

Swimming at the 1908 Summer Olympics
information
venue	London
Competition venue	White City Stadium
Nations	14th
Athletes	100 (100 )
date	July 13-25, 1908
decisions	6th
← St. Louis 1904 Stockholm 1912 →

At the IV Summer Olympics in London in 1908 , six swimming competitions were held. For the first time ever, a swimming pool was available to swimmers. This was located in the inner field of the White City Stadium , was 100 meters long and had four lanes (the 50-meter pools with eight lanes that are common today were first used in 1924). In 1896 in Athens people had swum in the open sea, in 1900 in Paris in the Seine and in 1904 in St. Louis in an artificial lake.

The English Amateur Swimming Association was responsible for the organization . After some misunderstandings had arisen in the interpretation of the rules, on July 19, 1908, during the competitions, representatives of ten national associations founded the international swimming federation FINA in the Manchester Hotel .

Balance sheet

Medal table

space	country				total
1	Great Britain	4th	2	1	7th
2	United States	1	-	1	2
3	German Empire	1	-	-	1
4th	Hungary	-	2	-	2
5	Australasia	-	1	1	2
6th	Denmark	-	1	-	1
7th	Sweden	-	-	2	2
8th	Austria	-	-	1	1
total		6th	6th	6th	18th

Medalist

discipline	gold	silver	bronze
100 m freestyle	Charles Daniels	Zoltán from Halmay	Harald Julin
400 m freestyle	Henry Taylor	Frank Beaurepaire	Otto Scheff
1500 m freestyle	Henry Taylor	Thomas Battersby	Frank Beaurepaire
100 m back	Arno Bieberstein	Ludwig Dam	Herbert Haresnape
200 m chest	Frederick Holman	William Robinson	Pontus Hanson
4 × 200 m freestyle	Great Britain John Derbyshire Paul Radmilovic William Foster Henry Taylor	Hungary József Munk Imre Zachár Béla from Las-Torres Zoltán from Halmay	United States Harry Hebner Leo Goodwin Charles Daniels Leslie Rich

Results men

100 m freestyle

→ Main article : 1908 Summer Olympics / Swimming - 100m Freestyle (Men)

space	country	athlete	Time (min)
1	United States	Charles Daniels	1: 05.6 ( WR )
2	HUN	Zoltán from Halmay	1: 06.2
3	SWE	Harald Julin	1: 08.0
4th	GBR	Leslie Rich	k. A.

Date: July 17th and 20th

34 swimmers from twelve countries took part in this competition. Initially, there were nine preliminary runs on the program. The number of participants in these races fluctuated enormously, as the groups had already been drawn before the start of the games and numerous athletes later withdrew their registration. Six swimmers started in one of the heats while only one was present in another.

In theory, the winners of the nine forerunners and the fastest runner-up would have qualified. But three participants then withdrew from the competition, which is why there were two intermediate runs with four participants each.

Olympic champion was Charles Daniels . He had already equalized Zoltán von Halmay's world record (1: 05.8 min; set on December 3rd, 1905 in Vienna ) and improved this time in the final by another two tenths of a second.

400 m freestyle

space	country	athlete	Time (min)
1	GBR	Henry Taylor	5: 36.8 ( OR )
2	ANZ	Frank Beaurepaire	5: 44.2
3	AUT	Otto Scheff	5: 46.0
4th	GBR	William Foster	k. A.

Date: July 13-16

25 swimmers from ten countries took part. As in the 100 meter race, there were very different prelims, the number of participants fluctuated between one and five. The nine preliminary winners qualified for the two intermediate runs.

Finally, the two fastest of the intermediate runs started for the finals. Until the last turning point, Taylor and Beaurepaire were practically tied, but then the Briton was able to distance the Australian decisively.

1500 m freestyle

space	country	athlete	Time (min)
1	GBR	Henry Taylor	22: 48.4 ( WR )
2	GBR	Thomas Battersby	22: 51.2
3	ANZ	Frank Beaurepaire	22: 56.2
	AUT	Otto Scheff	DNF

Date: July 21, 23 and 25

19 swimmers from eight countries took part in this competition. Here, too, the preliminary runs were manned differently for the reasons already mentioned (three races with three participants, two races with four participants and two races with only one participant). The seven preliminary winners were qualified for the intermediate runs.

In the final, Thomas Battersby led for 13 lengths , who was then overtaken by the eventual winner Henry Taylor . The race actually went over a mile (1,609.34 m), but the time was already stopped after 1,500 meters. Taylor's victory time is considered the first world record ever over this distance. Battersby kept swimming and tried to break the British mile record, which he succeeded.

100 m back

space	country	athlete	Time (min)
1	GER	Arno Bieberstein	1: 24.6
2	THE	Ludwig Dam	1: 26.6
3	GBR	Herbert Haresnape	1: 27.0
4th	GER	Gustav Aurisch	k. A.

Date: July 16 and 17

21 swimmers from eleven countries took part in this competition. The field of participants in the heats was a bit more balanced, but one swimmer made it one lap. The winners of the seven preliminary runs and the fastest runner-up qualified for the intermediate runs.

The best two of the two intermediate runs qualified for the final. The German Arno Bieberstein clearly dominated the race and won by two seconds.

200 m chest

space	country	athlete	Time (min)
1	GBR	Frederick Holman	3: 09.2 ( WR )
2	GBR	William Robinson	3: 12.8
3	SWE	Pontus Hanson	3: 14.6
4th	HUN	Ödön Toldy	3: 15.2

Date: July 15th, 16th and 18th

27 swimmers from ten countries took part in the heats. It was the only individual competition in which the prelims were fairly evenly occupied (three or four swimmers each). The seven preliminary winners and the fastest runner-up made it to the intermediate runs. The best two of the two intermediate runs qualified for the final.

In the final, Pontus Hansson and William Robinson were in the lead until halfway through the race. But Frederick Holman overtook the two after 150 meters and swam a new world record.

4 × 200 m freestyle

space	country	athlete	Time (min)
1	GBR	John Derbyshire Paul Radmilovic William Foster Henry Taylor	10: 55.6 ( WR )
2	HUN	József Munk Imre Zachár Béla from Las-Torres Zoltán from Halmay	10: 59.0
3	United States	Harry Hebner Leo Goodwin Charles Daniels Leslie Rich	11: 02.8
4th	ANZ	Frank Beaurepaire Frank Springfield Reginald Baker Theodore Tartakover	k. A.

Date: July 24th

The freestyle relay was on the Olympic program for the first time in London. Countries with four swimmers each took part. Since the draws were held here as soon as the registrations were received and individual countries later withdrew, the Hungarians swam alone in their preliminary run. In the other two heats, two and three seasons started. The preliminary winners and the fastest runners-up qualified for the final.

Zoltán von Halmay , the fourth Hungarian swimmer, had a lead of around 14 meters in the final at the last turn. However, he had tackled the race too quickly and had to be overtaken and overtaken by Henry Taylor , who finally led the English relay team to victory by a clear margin. The British also set a new world record.