Athletics at the 1912 Summer Olympics – Men's decathlon

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Men's decathlon
at the Games of the V Olympiad
Jim Thorpe1912 Olympics.jpg
Gold medalist Jim Thorpe
Venue Stockholm Olympic Stadium
DatesJuly 13–15
Competitors29 from 12 nations
Medalists
Gold medal icon.svg Jim Thorpe US flag 48 stars.svg  United States
Silver medal icon.svg Hugo Wieslander Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden
Silver medal icon.svg Charles Lomberg Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden
Bronze medal icon.svg Gösta Holmér Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden
1920  

The men's decathlon was a track and field athletics event held as part of the athletics at the 1912 Summer Olympics programme. The competition was held from Saturday, July 13, 1912, to Monday, July 15, 1912. It was the first time the decathlon, which had been introduced in 1911, was held at the Olympics; a different ten-event competition, the all-around, had been contested in St. Louis in 1904. Twenty-nine decathletes from twelve nations competed. [1] NOCs could enter up to 12 athletes. [2]

Results

Jim Thorpe's gold medal was stripped by the International Olympic Committee in 1913, after the IOC learned that Thorpe had taken expense money for playing baseball, violating contemporary Olympic amateurism rules, before the 1912 Games. This moved everyone else up in the rankings. In 1982, the IOC was convinced that the disqualification had been improper, as no protest against Thorpe's eligibility had been brought within the required 30 days, and reinstated Thorpe's medals. This made Thorpe and Hugo Wieslander co-champions. In 2022, the IOC decided to display Thorpe as the sole gold medal winner after the Swedish Olympic Committee and Wieslander's surviving family members declared Thorpe should be acknowledged as the sole Olympic champion. [3]

Avery Brundage, president of the IOC from 1952 to 1972, competed in the decathlon finishing in 16th place. Brundage did not start in the last two events of the competition.

100 metres

Event 1
PlaceAthleteTimeScore
1Flag of Sweden.svg  Skotte Jacobsson  (SWE)11.0952.4
US flag 48 stars.svg  Eugene Mercer  (USA)11.0952.4
3Flag of Canada (1868-1921).svg  Frank Lukeman  (CAN)11.2904.8
US flag 48 stars.svg  Jim Thorpe  (USA)11.2904.8
5Flag of France.svg  Pierre Failliot  (FRA)11.3881.0
Flag of the German Empire.svg  Otto Röhr  (GER)11.3881.0
7Flag of Sweden.svg  Gösta Holmér  (SWE)11.4857.2
8Flag of Sweden.svg  Einar Nilsson  (SWE)11.5833.4
Flag of Russia.svg  Valdemar Wickholm  (FIN)11.5833.4
10Flag of France.svg  Géo André  (FRA)11.6809.6
US flag 48 stars.svg  Harry Babcock  (USA)11.6809.6
12Flag of Norway.svg  Ferdinand Bie  (NOR)11.7785.8
13US flag 48 stars.svg  James Donahue  (USA)11.8762.0
Flag of Sweden.svg  Charles Lomberg  (SWE)11.8762.0
Flag of Sweden.svg  Hugo Wieslander  (SWE)11.8762.0
16Flag of the German Empire.svg  Alexander Abraham  (GER)12.0714.4
Flag of Denmark.svg  Svend Langkjær  (DEN)12.0714.4
18Flag of the German Empire.svg  Karl Halt  (GER)12.1690.6
Flag of Italy (1861-1946).svg  Manlio Legat  (ITA)12.1690.6
20Flag of Russia (1991-1993).svg  Alfreds Alslebens  (RUS)12.2666.8
US flag 48 stars.svg  Avery Brundage  (USA)12.2666.8
22Flag of Sweden.svg  Erik Kugelberg  (SWE)12.3643.0
Flag of Sweden.svg  Gunnar Rönström  (SWE)12.3643.0
Flag of the Habsburg Monarchy.svg  Josef Schäffer  (AUT)12.3643.0
Flag of Russia (1991-1993).svg  Aleksandr Schultz  (RUS)12.3643.0
26Flag of Italy (1861-1946).svg  Alfredo Pagani  (ITA)12.4619.2
US flag 48 stars.svg  George Philbrook  (USA)12.4619.2
28Flag of Sweden.svg  Viktor Hackberg  (SWE)12.5595.4
29Flag of the Ottoman Empire.svg  Mgirdiç Migiryan  (TUR)13.3405.0

Long jump

Shot put

High jump

6 of the 29 starters did not appear for the fourth event.

400 metres

5 more athletes, including the 6th-placed Nilsson, retired after the high jump and did not appear for the fifth event. This brought the number of non-finishers up to 11, leaving 18 to continue the competition.

Discus throw

Philbrook scored over 1000 points in the event by breaking the previous Olympic record (listed as 41.46 metres in the 1912 official report, though actually only 40.89 set by Martin Sheridan in 1908). Since the discus throw event had been held 2 days prior to the decathlon and Armas Taipale had far exceeded the old record, Philbrook's mark was not a new record. It did vault him from 5th place to 2nd following the 6th event, however.

110 metre hurdles

Pole vault

Two more athletes dropped out, leaving 16 left out of the original 29.

Javelin throw

Only 14 athletes, fewer than half of the original 29, began the penultimate event.

1500 metres

Hugo Wieslander in long jump. 1912 Hugo Wieslander2.JPG
Hugo Wieslander in long jump.
Eugene Mercer in long jump. 1912 Eugene Mercer.JPG
Eugene Mercer in long jump.
Hugo Wieslander in pole vault. 1912 Hugo Wieslander3.JPG
Hugo Wieslander in pole vault.
Jim Thorpe in pole vault. 1912 Jim Thorpe decathlon.JPG
Jim Thorpe in pole vault.

Notes

  1. "Athletics at the 1912 Stockholm Summer Games: Men's Decathlon". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  2. Official report, p. 61.
  3. "IOC to display the name of Jim Thorpe as sole Stockholm 1912 pentathlon and decathlon gold medallist".
  4. This score is reported in the Official Report. According to the formula given earlier in the Report (1000 point base, plus .38 points for each .01 metres from 41.46), however, the score should have been 1003.80 points.
  5. Score as reported in the OR. The formula gives 719.18 points.
  6. Score as reported in the OR. The formula gives 388.58 points.
  7. Total as given in Wudarski. A sum of the scores given by formula gives a total of 8412.995 points.

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References