1912 Summer Olympics / Athletics - 4 × 100 m (men)

sport	athletics
discipline	4 x 100 meter relay
gender	Men
Attendees	33 athletes from 8 countries
Competition location	Stockholm Olympic Stadium
Competition phase	July 8, 1912 (preliminary round / semi-finals) July 9, 1912 (final)
Medalist  GBR  SWE -

The men's 4 x 100 meter relay race at the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm was held on July 8th and 9th, 1912 in the Stockholm Olympic Stadium. 33 athletes took part.

This discipline was first performed at the Olympic Games. Although there had been a relay race as early as 1908 , the distances of the individual runners were different (200-200-400-800 m, so-called Olympic relay ).

The British relay was Olympic champion. Silver went to Sweden. The bronze medal could not be awarded because only three seasons contested the finals and the German season was disqualified there.

Existing records

At the time of the Olympics, there was no world record.

Conducting the competition

On July 8th there were a total of six preliminary heats, four of them with only one relay. The relays that came in first place qualified for the semi-finals, which were held on the same day. From these three races, only the victorious relays qualified for the final on July 9th.

Note: The relays qualified for the next round are highlighted in light blue.

Prelims

Date: July 8, 1912

Forward 1

space	nation	occupation	time	annotation
1	Canada	Frank McConnell Frank Lukeman Harry Beasley John Howard	46.2 s	OR

Forward 2

space	nation	occupation	time	annotation
1	United States	Ira Courtney Frank Belote Clement Wilson Carl Cooke	43.7 s	OR

Forward 3

space	nation	occupation	time	annotation
1	Great Britain	David Jacobs Henry Macintosh Victor d'Arcy Willie Applegarth	45.0 s

Forward 4

space	nation	occupation	time	annotation
1	Sweden	Ivan Möller Charles Luther Ture Person Knut Lindberg	43.6 s	OR

Forward 5

space	nation	occupation	time	annotation
1	German Empire	Karl von Halt Max Herrmann Erwin Kern Richard Rau	43.6 s	ORe
2	Austria	Gustav Krojer Rudolf Rauch Fritz Weinzinger Fritz Fleischer	44.8 s

Forward 6

space	nation	occupation	time	annotation
1	Hungary	Ferenc Szobota Vilmos Rácz Pál Szalay István Jankovich	43.7 s
2	France	Pierre Failliot Georges Rolot Charles Lelong René Mourlon	43.8 s

Semifinals

Date: July 8, 1912

Run 1

space	nation	occupation	time	annotation
1	Great Britain	David Jacobs Henry Macintosh Victor d'Arcy Willie Applegarth	43.0 s	OR
DSQ	United States	Ira Courtney Frank Belote Clement Wilson Carl Cooke		Error on first change

Run 2

Second semifinals: Sweden leads Hungary

space	nation	occupation	time	annotation
1	Sweden	Ivan Möller Charles Luther Ture Person Knut Lindberg	42.5 s	OR
2	Hungary	Ferenc Szobota Vilmos Rácz Pál Szalay István Jankovich	42.9 s

Run 3

space	nation	occupation	time	annotation
1	German Empire	Otto Röhr Max Herrmann Erwin Kern Richard Rau	42.3 s	WR
2	Canada	Frank McConnell Frank Lukeman Harry Beasley John Howard	43.5 s

final

Germany in the front, Great Britain in the middle, Sweden in the background

The finish line: d'Arcy (GBR) in the middle just before Rau (DEU) on the right. On the left in the background the Swedish runner

Date: July 9, 1912

The first Olympic final over 4 x 100 meters was played in three seasons. The German team, whose Olympic record from the semi-finals was recognized as the first official world record , was favored, especially because the US team had been disqualified.

The race took an exciting course from the start. Great Britain and Sweden were tied at the top until the last switch. The German relay team was about four meters behind when the final runners took over the baton, mainly due to weak changes. The German Richard Rau overtook the Swede Knut Lindberg and crossed the finish line at about the same time as the British William Applegarth. But when the referees consulted, it was no longer a question of who had won, but rather to clarify a possible substitution error of the German relay. Finally, a disqualification was pronounced. Great Britain won gold, Sweden silver. The bronze medal was not awarded.

With regard to the disqualification, there was a lot of confusion afterwards. Photos from a Swedish daily newspaper showed that the switch in question had actually taken place regularly. So the German team lodged a protest, which was not granted, as the decision of three judges was to be accepted as a factual decision.

space	nation	occupation	time	annotation
1	Great Britain	David Jacobs Henry Macintosh Victor d'Arcy Willie Applegarth	42.4 s
2	Sweden	Ivan Möller Charles Luther Ture Person Knut Lindberg	42.6 s
DSQ	German Empire	Otto Röhr Max Herrmann Erwin Kern Richard Rau		Second change failed

literature

• Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 1: 1896-1936, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 2nd edition 1970, p. 127f

Video

• Gold and Silver, but no Bronze - 4x100m Relay - Athletics - Stockholm 1912 Olympic Games on YouTube , accessed February 18, 2019.

Web links

• SportsReference 4x100m relay , accessed August 26, 2017
• Official report , engl. (PDF), accessed on August 26, 2017