1912 Summer Olympics / Athletics - 800 m (men)

sport	athletics
discipline	800 meter run
gender	Men
Attendees	48 athletes from 16 countries
Competition location	Stockholm Olympic Stadium
Competition phase	July 6, 1912 (preliminary round / semi-finals) July 7, 1912 (semi-finals) July 8, 1912 (final)
Medalist Ted Meredith ( USA )   Mel Sheppard ( USA )   Ira Davenport ( USA )

The men's 800-meter run at the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm was held from July 6th to 8th, 1912 in the Stockholm Olympic Stadium. 48 athletes took part.

The US-American Ted Meredith was Olympic champion with a new world record in front of his compatriots, the defending champion Mel Sheppard , and Ira Davenport .

The German Hanns Braun reached the final and finished fifth there. The other German participants Willie Jahn , Jakob Person and Erich Lehmann were eliminated in their preliminary stages.

Austrian and Swiss athletes did not start.

Existing records

World record	Emilio Lunghi ( Italy )	unofficial, race over 880 yards: 1: 52.1 min	Montreal	September 15, 1909
	Mel Sheppard ( USA )	official: 1: 52.8 min	London	July 21, 1908
Olympic record	Mel Sheppard ( USA )	1: 52.8 min (track with a length of 536 m)	London	July 21, 1908

Conducting the competition

A total of nine preliminary runs were carried out on July 6th. The athletes who came in on the first two places qualified for the semi-finals, which were held on July 7th. In these two semi-finals, the first four reached the final on July 8th.

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

Prelims

Date: July 6, 1912

The first two runners qualified for the next round. The times of the individual starters are not completely recorded.

Forward 1

Emilio Lunghi (ITA)

Right after the start, Eric Lindholm took the lead. At the exit of the first corner he was overtaken by Emilio Lunghi. Walter McClure and Joseph Caullé increased the pace and caught up with the Italian. In the last corner, the US runner Caldwell made the final sprint and took the lead. Lunghi tried to keep up and finished second with a gap of seven meters.

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	David Caldwell	United States	1: 58.6 min
2	Emilio Lunghi	Italy	k. A.
3	Walter McClure	United States	k. A.
4th	Eric Lindholm	Sweden	2: 01.5 min
5	Joseph Caullé	France	k. A.
6th	Pyotr Gaevsky	Russia	k. A.

Forward 2

The Briton Percy Mann ran a lonely race. He was in the lead right from the start and secured victory in the best time of all the heats. There was a fight for second place between Herbert Putnam and Jacob Pedersen, which the US starter Putnam won.

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Percy man	Great Britain	1: 56.0 min
2	Herbert Putnam	United States	k. A.
3	Jacob Pedersen	Norway	k. A.
DNF	Leopoldo Palma	Chile

Forward 3

On the first lap, the Portuguese Armando Cortesão led. Only in the last corner did John Jones pick up the pace and overtake Cortesão.

John Paul Jones (USA)

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	John Paul Jones	United States	2: 01.8 min
2	Armando Cortesão	Portugal	k. A.
3	Oscar Larsen	Norway	k. A.
4th	Teofil Savniky	Hungary	k. A.
5	Guido Calvi	Italy	k. A.
6th	Nils Frykberg	Sweden	k. A.

Forward 4

Charles Poulenard (FRA)

Clarence took the lead right after the start and never gave it up. Charles Poulenard tried again and again to attack, but was unsuccessful and was finally overtaken by the Canadian John Tait.

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Clarence Edmundson	United States	1: 56.5 min
2	John Tait	Canada	k. A.
3	Charles Poulenard	France	k. A.
4th	Willie Jahn	German Empire	2: 02.0 min
DNF	Robert Burton	Great Britain

Forward 5

Ira Davenport was in the lead up to the 100-meter mark when Philip Noel-Baker caught up with him. 300 meters from the finish, the Briton had to let the US athlete who won the race go, was overtaken by the entire field and gave up. Noel-Baker's compatriot Frederick Hulford came second.

Philip Noel-Baker (GBR) in a photo from 1942

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Ira Davenport	United States	1: 59.0 min
2	Frederick Hulford	Great Britain	k. A.
3	Ödön Bodor	Hungary	k. A.
4th	Jacob person	German Empire	k. A.
DNF	Dmitri Nazarov	Russia
	Zdeněk Městecký	Bohemia
	Philip Noel-Baker	Great Britain

Forward 6

Initially, the Hungarian Ferenc Forgács led. At the beginning of the second lap, Harlan Holden and Evert Björn increased the pace. Holden took the lead, the Swede ran behind him. On the home stretch, both were tied. Holden pushed again, the Swede could no longer follow and finished second, 2.5 meters behind.

Vahram Papazyan, the first Turkish Olympic participant

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Harlan Holden	United States	1: 58.1 min
2	Evert Bjorn	Sweden	k. A.
3	Richard Yorke	Great Britain	k. A.
4th	Karl Haglund	Sweden	k. A.
DNF	Ferenc Forgács	Hungary
	Alexander Yelisarov	Russia
	Federico Mueller	Chile
	Vahram Papazyan	Ottoman Empire

Forward 7

The Hungarian János Antal led at the beginning of the race, Mel Sheppard and James Soutter were right behind him. Only in the last corner did Sheppard take the final spurt, which only Soutter and Erich Lehmann could follow. Like the Russian Villemson, Antal had to give up the race. Soutter sprinted over Sheppard, who did not keep up his pace and was second ahead of Lehmann.

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	James Soutter	Great Britain	2: 00.4 min
2	Mel Sheppard	United States	k. A.
3	Erich Lehmann	German Empire	k. A.
DNF	János Antal	Hungary
	Wilhelm's son	Russia

Forward 8

After John led Victor, he was overtaken by Mel Brock and Ted Meredith. In the last 100 meters there was a duel between the two that Brock won.

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Mel Brock	Canada	1: 57.0
2	Ted Meredith	United States	k. A.
3	John Victor	South African Union	k. A.
DNF	Alan Patterson	Great Britain

Forward 9

After the start, Erik Frisell and Thomas Halpin took the lead side by side, followed by Hanns Braun. After the first lap, Ernest Henley overtook the three runners in front of him. In the last corner, Braun started his final sprint. He overtook Henley, who was able to counter and relegated the German to second. Frisell and Halpin fought for third place, both crossed the finish line at the same time.

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Ernest Henley	Great Britain	1: 57.6 min
2	Hanns Braun	German Empire	k. A.
3	Erik Frisell	Sweden	1: 59.2 min
	Thomas Halpin	United States
DNF	Lauri Pihkala	Grand Duchy of Finland
	Károly Radóczy	Hungary

Semifinals

Olympic Champion Ted Meredith (USA)

Silver medal for the defending champion Mel Sheppard (USA)

Date: July 7, 1912

The first four runners qualified for the next round. As in the preliminary stages, only a few times are transmitted.

Run 1

The first round with Ted Meredith as pacemaker was quick. At the beginning of the second lap, Mel Sheppard caught up with his countryman, the German Hanns Braun waited behind the two leaders. On the home stretch, Meredith was able to maintain the lead. For second place there was a tough duel between Sheppard and Braun. Braun forced 75 meters to go, but Sheppard was able to keep up. Only in the last few meters did Braun secure second place behind Meredith. Herbert Putnam crossed the finish line in fourth.

The qualified US runner John Paul Jones did not start the run.

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Ted Meredith	United States	1: 54.4 min
2	Hanns Braun	German Empire	1: 54.6 min
3	Mel Sheppard	United States	1: 54.8 min
4th	Herbert Putnam	United States	1: 55.0 min
5	John Tait	Canada	k. A.
6th	Percy man	Great Britain	k. A.
DNF	Frederick Hulford	Great Britain
	James Soutter	Great Britain

Run 2

The 400-meter specialist Ira Davenport took the lead after the start, but was quickly overtaken by his compatriot Clarence Edmundson. Edmundson increased the pace strongly, the rest of the field fell behind. Only the Canadian Mel Brock was able to follow and overtook Edmundson in the final sprint. The three US athletes behind Brock crossed the finish line almost simultaneously.

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Mel Brock	Canada	1: 55.7 min
2	Clarence Edmundson	United States	1: 55.8 min
3	David Caldwell	United States	1: 55.9 min
4th	Ira Davenport	United States	1: 55.9 min
5	Emilio Lunghi	Italy	k. A.
DNF	Evert Bjorn	Sweden
	Ernest Henley	Great Britain
	Harlan Holden	United States
	Armando Cortesão	Portugal

final

Start of the final run

Finish: Meredith ahead of Sheppard and Davenport

Six Americans, a Canadian and a German started in the final over 800 meters . Immediately after the starting signal, the 1908 Olympic champion , Mel Sheppard, took the lead, Ted Meredith and Hanns Braun followed. After 400 meters, Meredith had moved into second place. Braun was third, followed by Ira Davenport and Clarence Edmundson. In the last corner, Braun, who was surrounded by US runners, tried to break away from the group by trying to pass Davenport on the outside. But the US athlete was able to fend off the attack. At the beginning of the home stretch, Sheppard was still in the lead, but Meredith was now picking up the pace. Braun also tried another attack on the leaders, but failed. Sheppard and Meredith sprinted on, Davenport passed Braun. With a half meter lead Meredith secured the victory over Sheppard, who in turn was a hand's breadth ahead of Davenport.

The victory time of 1: 51.9 minutes meant a world record . Sheppard and the bronze medalist Davenport also stayed below the previous world record.

The win was the third US success in a row in this discipline, and it was the second triple success of the USA after 1904 .

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Ted Meredith	United States	1: 51.9 min	WR
2	Mel Sheppard	United States	1: 52.0 min
3	Ira Davenport	United States	1: 52.0 min
4th	David Caldwell	United States	1.52.8 min
5	Mel Brock	Canada	1: 53.0 min
6th	Hanns Braun	German Empire	1: 53.0 min
7th	Clarence Edmundson	United States	k. A.
8th	Herbert Putnam	United States	k. A.

literature

• Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 1: 1896-1936, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 2nd edition 1970, pp. 103-105

Web links

• SportsReference 800m , accessed August 25, 2017
• Official report , engl. (PDF), accessed on August 25, 2017

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Description of the preliminary stages in the official report ( memento of the original from February 7, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Pp. 360 - 362, engl. (PDF) 
2. ^ Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 1: 1896-1936, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 2nd edition 1970, p. 103
3. ↑ Description of the semi-finals in the official report ( Memento of the original from February 7, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Pp. 362 - 363, engl. (PDF) 
4. ↑ Description of the finale in the official report ( Memento of the original from February 7, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Pp. 362 - 363, engl. (PDF)