Germany at the 1908 Summer Olympics

Germany at the
1908 Summer Olympics
Germany at the; 1908 Summer Olympics
	Flag of the German Empire
IOC code	GER
NOC	German Olympic Sports Confederation
Website	www.dosb.de (in German, English, and French)
in London
Competitors	81 (79 men, 2 women)
Flag bearer	Wilhelm Kaufmann
Medals ; Ranked 5th	Gold3Silver5Bronze5Total13
Summer Olympics appearances (overview)
	1896 ; 1900 ; 1904 ; 1908 ; 1912 ; 1920–1924; 1928 ; 1932 ; 1936 ; 1948; 1952 ; 1956–1988; 1992 ; 1996 ; 2000 ; 2004 ; 2008 ; 2012 ; 2016 ; 2020 ; 2024 ;
Other related appearances
	1906 Intercalated Games; –––– Saar (1952); United Team of Germany (1956–1964); East Germany (1968–1988); West Germany (1968–1988)

Last updated September 25, 2024

Germany competed at the 1908 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom.

Medalists

Medal	Name	Sport	Event	Date
Gold	Albert Zürner	Diving	Men's 3 m springboard	July 18
Gold	Heinrich Burger , Anna Hübler	Figure skating	Pairs	October 29
Gold	Arno Bieberstein	Swimming	Men's 100 m backstroke	July 17
Silver	Hanns Braun , Hans Eicke, Arthur Hoffmann, Otto Trieloff	Athletics	Men's medley relay	July 25
Silver	Max Götze , Rudolf Katzer, Hermann Martens, Karl Neumer	Cycling	Men's team pursuit	July 17
Silver	Kurt Behrens	Diving	Men's 3 m springboard	July 18
Silver	Elsa Rendschmidt	Figure skating	Ladies' singles	October 29
Silver	Otto Froitzheim	Tennis	Men's singles	July 11
Bronze	Hanns Braun	Athletics	Men's 800 m	July 21
Bronze	Karl Neumer	Cycling	Men's 660 yd	July 15
Bronze	Gottlob Walz	Diving	Men's 3 m springboard	July 18
Bronze	Bernhard von Gaza	Rowing	Men's single sculls	July 31
Bronze	Willy Düskow , Martin Stahnke	Rowing	Men's coxless pair	July 31

Results by event

Athletics

Germany's best athletics result was a silver medal in the medley relay.

Event	Place	Athlete	Heats	Semifinals	Final

Men's 100 metres	Heats	Carl Bechler	11.4 seconds 2nd, heat 17	Did not advance
		Arthur Hoffmann	11.4 seconds 3rd, heat 3
		Hans Eicke	11.6 seconds 3rd, heat 7
		Heinrich Rehder	11.8 seconds 3rd, heat 8
		Willy Kohlmey	12.0 seconds 3rd, heat 15
		Hermann von Bonninghausen	12.0 seconds 5th, heat 14
	—	Paul Fischer	Did not finish —, heat 10

Men's 200 metres	Heats	Arthur Hoffmann	Unknown 2nd, heat 13	Did not advance

Men's 400 metres	Heats	Otto Trieloff	Unknown 2nd, heat 14	Did not advance

Men's 800 metres	3rd	Hanns Braun	None held	1:58.0 1st, semifinal 7	1:55.2
	Semi- finalist	Andreas Breynck		Unknown 2nd, semifinal 6	Did not advance
	Semi- finalist	Oskar Quarg		Unknown 4th, semifinal 5	Did not advance

Men's 1500 metres	Semi- finalist	Andreas Breynck	None held	Unknown 2nd, semifinal 6	Did not advance
		Hanns Braun		Unknown 3rd, semifinal 8
		Arno Hesse		Unknown 7th, semifinal 2

Men's medley relay	2nd	Arthur Hoffmann Hans Eicke Otto Trieloff Hanns Braun	None held	3:43.2 1st, semifinal 2	3:32.4

Men's 5 miles	Semi- finalist	Paul Nettelbeck	None held	Unknown 5th, semifinal 3	Did not advance

Men's marathon	—	Fritz Reiser	None held		Did not finish
		H. Muller			Did not start
		Paul Nettelbeck			Did not start

Men's 3500 metre walk	Semi- finalist	Paul Gunia	None held	16:38.0 4th, semifinal 1	Did not advance
Men's 3500 metre walk	Semi- finalist	Richard Wilhelm	None held	17:33.8 6th, semifinal 3	Did not advance

Men's 10 mile walk	Semi- finalist	Paul Gunia	None held	1:26:09.4 7th, semifinal 1	Did not advance

Event	Place	Athlete	Height/ Distance

Men's long jump	6th	Albert Weinstein	6.77 metres
	15th	Arthur Hoffmann	6.50 metres
	21-32	Hermann von Bonninghausen	Unknown
	21-32	Ludwig Uetwiller	6.05 metres

Men's standing high jump	8th	Arthur Mallwitz	1.42 metres
Men's standing high jump	17th	Ludwig Uetwiller	1.32 metres

Men's standing long jump	8-25	Arthur Mallwitz	Unknown

Men's discus throw	11th	Emil Welz	37.02 metres
Men's discus throw	12-42	Ludwig Uetwiller	Unknown

Men's hammer throw	10-19	Ludwig Uetwiller	Unknown

Men's javelin throw	8-16	Carl Bechler	Unknown

Men's freestyle javelin	10-33	Ludwig Uetwiller	Unknown
Men's freestyle javelin	10-33	Emil Welz	Unknown

Cycling

Germany's best cycling result was the silver medal won in the team pursuit event.

Event	Place	Cyclist	Heats	Semifinals	Final

Men's 660 yards	3rd	Karl Neumer	54.2 seconds 1st, heat 11	1:05.6 1st, semifinal 4	Unknown
	Heats	Richard Katzer	Unknown 2nd, heat 3	Did not advance
		Hermann Martens	Unknown 2nd, heat 7
		Bruno Götze	Unknown 3rd, heat 10
		Paul Schulze	Unknown 3rd, heat 13

Men's 5000 metres	Semi- finalist	Hermann Martens	None held	Unknown 2nd, semifinal 3	Did not advance
		Karl Neumer		Unknown 2nd, semifinal 5
		Bruno Götze		Unknown 4th, semifinal 3
		Richard Katzer		Unknown 4-7, semifinal 7
		Max Götze		Unknown 4-9, semifinal 5

Men's 20 kilometres	Semi- finalist	Hermann Martens	None held	33:21.2 2nd, semifinal 1	Did not advance
		Max Triebsch		Unknown 5th, semifinal 3
		Alwin Boldt		Unknown 6-7, semifinal 4
		Richard Katzer		Unknown 7-8, semifinal 1
		Paul Schulze		Unknown 7-9, semifinal 2

Men's 100 kilometres	Semi- finalist	Alwin Boldt	None held	Unknown 7-14, semifinal 1	Did not advance
	—	Richard Katzer		Did not finish —, semifinal 1
		Bruno Götze		Did not finish —, semifinal 2
		Hermann Martens		Did not finish —, semifinal 2
		Paul Schulze		Did not finish —, semifinal 2
		Max Triebsch		Did not finish —, semifinal 2

Men's sprint	Semi- finalist	Karl Neumer	1:33.2 1st, heat 7	Unknown 2nd, semifinal 1	Did not advance
	Heats	Paul Schulze	Unknown 3rd, heat 4	Did not advance
	Heats	Bruno Götze	Unknown 3rd, heat 12
	—	Hermann Martens	Time limit exceeded —, heat 6

Men's tandem	Semi- finalist	Max Götze Otto Götze	2:05.6 1st, heat 3	Unknown 3rd, semifinal 1	Did not advance
Men's tandem	Heats	Alwin Boldt Hermann Martens	Unknown 2nd, heat 1	Did not advance

Men's team pursuit	2nd	Max Götze Richard Katzer Hermann Martens Karl Neumer	2:25.4 1st, heat 4	2:31.8 1st, semifinal 2	2:28.6

Diving

Germany dominated the springboard diving in 1908, taking all three medals in the event (including a tie for third place with an American diver).

Event	Place	Diver	Preliminary groups	Semi- finals	Final

Men's 10 metre platform	10th	Heinz Freyschmidt	67.30 points 2nd, group 3	48.80 points 5th, semifinal 2	Did not advance
Men's 10 metre platform	22nd	Fritz Nicolai	54.50 points 5th, group 5	Did not advance

Men's 3 metre springboard	1st	Albert Zürner	83.60 points 1st, group 2	82.80 points 2nd, semifinal 2	85.50 points
	2nd	Kurt Behrens	83.60 points 1st, group 3	83.00 points 1st, semifinal 1	85.30 points
	3rd	Gottlob Walz	81.30 points 1st, group 5	80.30 points 2nd, semifinal 1	80.80 points
	5th	Fritz Nicolai	67.10 points 2nd, group 4	81.80 points 3rd, semifinal 2	Did not advance
	8th	Heinz Freyschmidt	78.10 points 2nd, group 1	79.3 points 4th, semifinal 1	Did not advance

Fencing

Event	Place	Fencer	First round	Second round	Semi- final

Men's épée	First round	Johannes Adam	1-4 (4th in C)	Did not advance
		Emil Schön	4-3 (4th in G)
		Ernst Moldenhauer	1-4 (4th in J)
		Julius Lichtenfels	2-3 (4th in M)
		Albert Naumann	1-4 (5th in F)
		Jakob Erckrath de Bary	4-4 (5th in H)
		Georg Stöhr	2-5 (6th in A)
		Fritz Jack	2-5 (6th in B)
		August Petri	2-6 (6th in I)
		Robert Krünert	2-6 (7th in E)

Men's sabre	Second round	August Petri	2-2 (3rd in F)	2-2 (3rd in 7)	Did not advance
		Emil Schön	4-2 (2nd in M)	1-3 (4th in 5)
		Fritz Jack	3-2 (2nd in C)	1-3 (5th in 2)
	First round	Julius Lichtenfels	2-2 (4th in D)	Did not advance
		Robert Krünert	2-3 (4th in H)
		Johannes Adam	1-3 (5th in B)
		Jakob Erkrath de Bary	1-4 (5th in G)
		Ernst Moldenhauer	1-4 (5th in K)
		Georg Stöhr	2-4 (6th in J)
		Albert Naumann	0-5 (6th in L

Event	Place	Fencers	Play-in match	First round	Semi- finals	Repechage	Silver medal match

Men's team épée	6th	Jakob Erckrath de Bary Julius Lichtenfels August Petri Georg Stöhr	Bye	Lost to Great Britain 13-5 Out 6th place	Did not advance	Not relegated

Men's team sabre	4th	Jakob Erckrath de Bary Fritz Jack Robert Krünert August Petri	Not held	Lost to Hungary 9-0 Relegated to repechage	Did not advance	Lost to Italy 10-4 Out 4th place	Did not advance

Figure skating

Event	Place	Skater	Score

Women's individual	2nd	Elsa Rendschmidt	211.0

Mixed pairs	1st	Anna Hübler Heinrich Burger	11.2

Gymnastics

Gymnast	Event	Score	Rank
Curt Steuernagel	Men's all-around	273.5	4
Friedrich Wolf		267	5
Karl Borchert		246	12
Wilhelm Weber		220	28
Josef Krämer		212	33
Heinrich Siebenhaar		198.5	40
Paul Fischer		198	41
Georg Karth		186.5	50
Carl Körting		181	52
Wilhelm Kaufmann		180.5	53
August Ehrich		156.75	65

Hockey

Event	Place	Players	First round	Semifinals	5th/6th

Men's hockey	5th	Alfons Brehm, Elard Dauelsberg, Franz Diederichsen, Carl Ebert, Jules Fehr, Mauricio Galvao, Raulino Galvao, Fritz Möding, Friedrich Rahe, Albert Studemann, Friedrich Uhl	Lost vs. GBR Scotland 4-0	Did not advance	Won vs. France 1-0

Opponent nation	Wins	Losses	Percent
France	1	0	1.000
Great Britain	0	1	.000

Total	1	1	.500

Rowing

Event	Place	Rowers	First round	Quarter- finals	Semi- finals	Final

Men's single sculls	3rd	Bernhard von Gaza	9.35 1st, heat 1	9.47 1st, quarterfinal 1	Did not finish —, semifinal 2	Did not advance

Men's coxless pair	3rd	Martin Stahnke Willy Düskow	None held		Unknown 2nd, semifinal 2	Did not advance

Shooting

Germany had one shooter compete in one event, placing last in the 49-man field.

Event	Place	Shooter	Score

Men's 1000 yard free rifle	49th	Ernst Wagner-Hohenlobbese	12

Swimming

Event	Place	Swimmer	Heats	Semifinals	Final

Men's 100 metre backstroke	1st	Arno Bieberstein	1:25.6 1st, heat 1	1:25.6 1st, semifinal 1	1:24.6
	4th	Gustav Aurisch	1:27.4 1st, heat 7	1:28.2 1st, semifinal 1	Unknown
	Semi- finalist	Max Ritter	1:33.4 1st, heat 2	Unknown 3rd, semifinal 1	Did not advance

Men's 200 metre breaststroke	Semi- finalist	Erich Zeidel	3:17.2 1st, heat 3	Unknown 3rd, semifinal 1	Did not advance
Men's 200 metre breaststroke	Heats	Richard Rösler	3:18.0 2nd, heat 1	Did not advance

Tennis

Germany was the second-most successful nation in tennis in 1908, winning a silver medal in the men's singles to prevent Great Britain from sweeping the silver medals as well as the 6 gold medals.

Event	Place	Name	Round of 64	Round of 32	Round of 16	Quarter- finals	Semi- finals	Final

Men's singles	2nd	Otto Froitzheim	Defeated K. Powell	Defeated Kreuzer	Defeated Parke	Defeated Caridia	Defeated Richardson	Lost to Ritchie
	9th	Moritz von Bissing	Bye	Defeated Zborzil	Lost to Eaves	Did not advance
	16th	Oscar Kreuzer	Defeated Piepes	Lost to Froitzheim	Did not advance
	16th	Heinrich Schomburgk	Bye	Lost to Germot	Did not advance
	26th	Friedrich Wilhelm Rahe	Lost to Dixon	Did not advance

Men's doubles	7th	Otto Froitzheim Heinrich Schomburgk	None held	Defeated Kreuzer/Rahe	Lost to Gauntlett/Kitson	Did not advance
Men's doubles	11th	Oscar Kreuzer Friedrich Wilhelm Rahe	None held	Lost to Froitzheim/Schomburgk	Did not advance

Opponent nation	Wins	Losses	Percent
Austria	2	0	1.000
France	0	1	.000
Great Britain	3	3	.500
South Africa	1	1	.500

Total international	6	5	.545
Germany	2	2	.500

Total	8	7	.533

Wrestling

Event	Place	Wrestler	Round of 32	Round of 16

Greco-Roman middleweight	17th	Wilhelm Grundmann	Lost to Belmer	Did not advance

Opponent nation	Wins	Losses	Percent
Netherlands	0	1	.000

Total	0	1	.000

Sources

Cook, Theodore Andrea (1908). The Fourth Olympiad, Being the Official Report. London: British Olympic Association.
De Wael, Herman (2001). "Top London 1908 Olympians". Herman's Full Olympians. Archived from the original on 12 July 2006. Retrieved 7 June 2006.

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