Athletics at the 1908 Summer Olympics - Men's 800 metres

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The men's 800 metres made its fourth Olympic appearance at the 1908 Summer Olympics. The race consisted of two laps around the track. It was run in two rounds, with the winners of the eight heats of the first round competing in the final.

The final heat resulted in Mel Sheppard shattering the Olympic record, his time of 1:52.8 being 3.2 seconds faster than the pace set by fellow American runner Jim Lightbody four years earlier.

Contents 1 Medallists 2 Results 2.1 Semifinals 2.1.1 Semifinal 1 2.1.2 Semifinal 2 2.1.3 Semifinal 3 2.1.4 Semifinal 4 2.1.5 Semifinal 5 2.1.6 Semifinal 6 2.1.7 Semifinal 7 2.1.8 Semifinal 8 2.2 Final 3 References

[edit] Medallists

Gold	Silver	Bronze
Mel Sheppard United States of America	Emilio Lunghi Italy	Hanns Braun Germany

[edit] Results

[edit] Semifinals

The semifinals were held on 20 July 1908. The winner of each heat advanced to the final the next day, with all other runners eliminated.

[edit] Semifinal 1

Ashford went out fast, but tired quickly. The race was a tight match between Bodor, Butterfield, and Björn, each of whom led at times. Lightbody, the defending champion, was always close behind.

Place	Name	Nation	Time
1	Ödön Bodor	Hungary	1:58.6
2	George Butterfield	Great Britain	1:58.9
3	Evert Björn	Sweden	Unknown
4	Jim Lightbody	United States of America	Unknown
—	Frederick Ashford	Great Britain	Did not finish
	Hendrik van der Wal	Netherlands	Did not finish

[edit] Semifinal 2

The second heat was less eventful than the preceding one, with Sheppard leading most of the way. Nevertheless, Lintott kept close and was only four yards behind at the finish.

Place	Name	Nation	Time
1	Mel Sheppard	United States of America	1:58.0
2	James Lintott	Great Britain	1:58.8
3	R. Irving Parkes	Canada	Unknown

[edit] Semifinal 3

Halstead took the lead after 500 metres and held on to beat Lee by two yards.

Place	Name	Nation	Time
1	John Halstead	United States of America	2:01.4
2	John W. Lee	Great Britain	2:01.7
3	George Morphy	Great Britain	Unknown
4	József Nagy	Hungary	Unknown

[edit] Semifinal 4

Lunghi broke away from the pack near the end of the first lap, leading the rest of the way.

Place	Name	Nation	Time
1	Emilio Lunghi	Italy	1:57.2
2	Harry Coe	United States of America	1:57.2
3	Lloyd Jones	United States of America	Unknown
—	Stefanos Dimitrios	Greece	Did not finish
	L. J. Manogue	Great Britain	Did not finish

[edit] Semifinal 5

The fifth heat was the closest of the first round, despite Beard leading the entire way. Buddo and Astley both made tremendous efforts to catch up in the second lap. Astley caught and passed Buddo, but was unable to do the same with Beard, who won by inches.

Place	Name	Nation	Time
1	Clarke Beard	United States of America	1:59.2
2	Arthur Astley	Great Britain	1:59.9
3	Donald Buddo	Canada	Unknown
4	Oscar Quarg	Germany	2:10.0
—	Edward Dahl	Sweden	Did not finish
	Charles M. French	United States of America	Did not finish

[edit] Semifinal 6

Just had little difficulty, winning this race by fifty yards.

Place	Name	Nation	Time
1	Theodore Just	Great Britain	1:57.8
2	Andreas Breynck	Germany	2:06.0
—	Frank Danielson	Sweden	Did not finish
	Ary Vosbergen	Netherlands	Did not finish

[edit] Semifinal 7

Bromilow led for most of the race, with Braun using the last turn to move from third to first.

Rank	Name	Nation	Time
1	Hanns Braun	Germany	1:58.0
2	Joseph Bromilow	United States of America	1:58.3
3	Harold Holding	Great Britain	1:58.5
—	Brand Evers	Netherlands	Did not finish
	Horace Ramey	United States of America	Did not finish
	Fredrik Svanström	Finland	Did not finish

[edit] Semifinal 8

While not having quite the dominant lead that his countryman Just had in the sixth heat, Crawford won the eighth easily as well. Hellstrom was fifteen yards behind him when he finished.

Place	Name	Nation	Time
1	Ivo Fairbairn-Crawford	Great Britain	1:57.8
2	Kristian Hellstrom	Sweden	Unknown
3	Harvey Sutton	Australasia	2:00.0
4	Francis Sheehan	United States of America	Unknown

[edit] Final

The final was held on 21 July 1908. Crawford started out fast, leading by fifteen yards halfway through the first lap. By the end of the lap, however, he had tired so much that he was forced to drop out of the race. Sheppard then took the lead, with Lunghi and Just immediately behind. The time at the 400 metres mark was only 53 seconds. Just was the first of the three leaders to fail to keep the pace, dropping back to fifth place. Lunghi's efforts were not enough for him to stay with Sheppard the entire way, though the Italian did finish 1.8 seconds faster than the Olympic record. Sheppard was 1.4 seconds faster than that, with his time of 1:52.8 fully 3.2 seconds faster than Jim Lightbody's record of four years earlier.

Place	Name	Nation	Time
1	Mel Sheppard	United States of America	1:52.8 OR
2	Emilio Lunghi	Italy	1:54.2
3	Hanns Braun	Germany	1:55.2
4	Ödön Bodor	Hungary	1:55.4
5	Theodore Just	Great Britain	1:56.4
6	John Halstead	United States of America	Unknown
—	Clarke Beard	United States of America	Disqualified
	Ivo Fairbairn-Crawford	Great Britain	Disqualified

[edit] References

• Cook, Theodore Andrea (1908). The Fourth Olympiad, Being the Official Report. London: British Olympic Association. 
• De Wael, Herman (2001). Athletics 1908. Herman's Full Olympians. Retrieved on 25 July, 2006.
• Wudarski, Pawel (1999). Wyniki Igrzysk Olimpijskich. Retrieved on 25 July, 2006. (Polish)

The 1908 Summer Olympics in London

Athletics at the 1908 Summer Olympics

100 m | 200 m | 400 m | 800 m | 1500 m | 110 m hurdles | 400 m hurdles | 3200 m steeplechase | medley relay | 3 mile team race | 5 miles | marathon | 3500 m walk | 10 mile walk high jump | long jump | triple jump | pole vault | standing high jump | standing long jump shot put | discus | hammer | javelin | Greek discus | freestyle javelin