Men's medley relay at the Games of the IV Olympiad | |||||||||||||
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Venue | White City Stadium | ||||||||||||
Dates | July 24, 1908 (semifinals) July 25, 1908 (final) | ||||||||||||
Competitors | 28 from 7 nations | ||||||||||||
Medalists | |||||||||||||
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Athletics at the 1908 Summer Olympics | |
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Track events | |
100 m | men |
200 m | men |
400 m | men |
800 m | men |
1500 m | men |
5 miles | men |
110 m hurdles | men |
400 m hurdles | men |
3200 m steeplechase | men |
Medley relay | men |
3 mile team race | men |
Road events | |
Marathon | men |
3500 m walk | men |
10 mile walk | men |
Field events | |
Long jump | men |
Triple jump | men |
High jump | men |
Pole vault | men |
Standing long jump | men |
Standing high jump | men |
Shot put | men |
Discus throw | men |
Hammer throw | men |
Javelin throw | men |
Greek discus | men |
Freestyle javelin | men |
The men's medley relay was run for the first time at the 1908 Summer Olympics in London. The event consisted of 1600 metres being run by four athletes per team. Unlike the later 4 × 400 metres relay, however, the athletes had different distances to run. In the medley, the first two runners each ran 200 metres. The third runner ran 400 and the fourth ran 800. The competition was held on July 24, 1908, and July 25, 1908. 28 runners from 7 nations competed. NOCs could enter one team of four, with four reserves. [1]
The event was run in two rounds.
This was the first relay race run at the Olympics. Rather than use a baton, the runners changed legs by touching hands as was common at the time. [2]
The event would later come to be known as the sprint medley relay, which is rarely run in international competition but is still run at events like the Penn Relays.
This was the Olympic debut of the event. The record for the 4 × 440 yards relay at the time, an event over a similar distance but with equal distance legs instead of the 2-2-4-8 medley, was 3:21 2⁄5 seconds.
World record | New York AC (![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() | 3:21 2⁄5 (4 × 440 yards) | New York City | 28 August 1898 | [3] |
Olympic record | N/A |
All first round heats were held on July 24, 1908.
First round, heat 1
Simon had a ten-yard lead over Laaftman at the end of the 200 metre leg; after Lindberg gained on Racz, Stenborg passed Nagy during the 400 metre leg, giving Björn a three-yard advantage over Bodor to begin the second half of the race. Bodor was up to the task, and ran the split in 1:56.6 to pass Björn and win a close contest by three yards.
Place | Name | Nation | Time |
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1 | Pál Simon Frigyes Wiesner József Nagy Ödön Bodor | ![]() | 3:32.6 |
2 | Sven Låftman Knut Lindberg Knut Stenborg Evert Björn | ![]() | (3:33.0) |
First round, heat 2
The German team dominated this heat, with each runner increasing the lead: Braun crossed the finish line 90 yards ahead of Evers.
Place | Name | Nation | Time |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Arthur Hoffmann Hans Eicke Otto Trieloff Hanns Braun | ![]() | 3:43.2 |
2 | Evert Koops Jacobus Hoogveld Victor Henny Bram Evers | ![]() | (3:55.4) |
First round, heat 3
Hamilton gave the Americans a slight lead at the end of the first 200 metres, with the Canadians in second and the British in third.
Cartmell increased the lead as Pankhurst caught up to Buddo near the end of the second 200. In the 400 leg, Taylor held the American lead while Montague ensured second place for the Britons.
Just had little chance of catching Sheppard, who had won the individual 800 metres, in the second half of the race, and Sheppard crossed the finish line 25 yards in front of the British team.
Place | Name | Nation | Time |
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1 | William Hamilton Nate Cartmell John Taylor Mel Sheppard | ![]() | 3:27.2 |
2 | George Hawkins Henry Pankhurst Edwin Montague Theodore Just | ![]() | 3:32.0 |
3 | Frank Lukeman Donald Buddo Louis Sebert R. Irving Parkes | ![]() | unknown |
The final was held on July 25, 1908.
At the end of the first 200 metres, Hamilton had a six-yard lead over Simon, with Hoffmann about a yard behind the Hungarian. Cartmell and Taylor increased the American lead, and Sheppard, who began the second half of the race with a fifteen-yard lead over Bodor, pulled away to win by twenty-five yards.
Braun and Bodor had a duel for second place, with the German, who had a five-yard deficit at the beginning of the 800 metres, winning an exciting contest by five inches.
Place | Name | Nation | Split | Time |
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1 | William Hamilton Nate Cartmell John Taylor Mel Sheppard | ![]() | 0:22.0 0:22.2 0:49.8 1:55.4 | 3:29.4 |
2 | Arthur Hoffmann Hans Eicke Otto Trieloff Hanns Braun | ![]() | 3:32.4 | |
3 | Pál Simon Frigyes Wiesner József Nagy Ödön Bodor | ![]() | 3:32.5 |
A relay race is a racing competition where members of a team take turns completing parts of racecourse or performing a certain action. Relay races take the form of professional races and amateur games. Relay races are common in running, orienteering, swimming, cross-country skiing, biathlon, or ice skating. In the Olympic Games, there are several types of relay races that are part of track and field, each consisting of a set number of stages (legs), each leg run by different members of a team. The runner finishing one leg is usually required to pass the next runner a stick-like object known as a "baton" while both are running in a marked exchange zone. In most relays, team members cover equal distances: Olympic events for both men and women are the 400-metre and 1,600-metre relays. Some non-Olympic relays are held at distances of 800 m, 3,200 m, and 6,000 m. In the less frequently run medley relays, however, the athletes cover different distances in a prescribed order—as in a sprint medley of 200, 200, 400, 800 metres or a distance medley of 1,200, 400, 800, 1,600 metres.
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