Australasia at the 1908 Summer Olympics

Australasia at the Olympic Games
Australasian Olympic Flag IOC code   ANZ
At the 1908 Summer Olympics in London
Competitors	32 in 7 sports
Flag bearer	Henry St Aubyn Murray
Medals Rank: 11	Gold 1	Silver 2	Bronze 2	Total 5
Olympic history (summary)
Summer Games
1908 1912
Other related appearances
Australia (1896–1904, 1920–) New Zealand (1920–)

Australasia was the name of a combined team from Australia and New Zealand that competed at the 1908 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom. It was the fourth appearance of Australia, which had not missed any edition of the Summer Olympic Games, and the first appearance of New Zealand. The two would compete together again as Australasia at the 1912 Summer Olympics before competing separately at every edition of the Summer Games since. In 1908 there were 3 New Zealanders, Harry Kerr, Henry St Aubyn Murray and Albert Rowland (a fourth New Zealander, hurdler Arthur Halligan, competed for Great Britain),^[1] all other competitors were Australian.

Medalists

Medal	Name	Sport	Event	Date
01 ! Gold	national rugby union team, AustraliaAustralia national rugby union team John Barnett   Jack Hickey   Charles McMurtrie Phil Carmichael   Malcolm McArthur   Sydney Middleton Daniel Carroll   Arthur McCabe   Tom Richards Bob Craig   Patrick McCue   Charles Russell Thomas Griffen   Christopher McKivat   Frank Smith	Rugby union		000000002016-10-26-0000October 26
02 ! Silver	Baker, ReginaldReginald Baker	Boxing	Middleweight	000000002016-10-27-0000October 27
02 ! Silver	Beaurepaire, FrankFrank Beaurepaire	Swimming	Men's 400 m freestyle	000000002016-07-16-0000July 16
03 ! Bronze	Kerr, HarryHarry Kerr	Athletics	Men's 3500 m walk	000000002016-07-14-0000July 14
03 ! Bronze	Beaurepaire, FrankFrank Beaurepaire	Swimming	Men's 1500 m freestyle	000000002016-07-25-0000July 25

Results by event

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Athletics

Australasia's best athletics result, and only medal, was Harry Kerr's bronze medal in the 3500 metre walk.

Boxing

Australasia had one boxer in 1908, the middleweight Reginald Baker. He took the silver medal, and was the only non-British boxer to win a bout.

Diving

Baker, the silver medal-winning middleweight boxer, also dove in the springboard event, placing 22nd of 23 overall.

Rugby

1908 Olympic Gold Final Australasia v Great Britain.

Australasia won the only rugby union match played in 1908 against Great Britain, earning the gold medal. The Australasian representative was the Australia national team.

Shooting

Swimming

Tennis

Les Poidevin and Tony Wilding (who were partners in the 1906 Davis Cup preliminary round at Newport) were nominated for the Australasian team by the Australasian Lawn Tennis Association, but their nominations failed to reach the organisers. So the pair watched the "small, impoverished and out of place" Australasian contingent alongside the "tailored splendour" of some European teams. Although many leading tennis players bypassed the Olympic tournament (which followed almost immediately after Wimbledon) and his goal had been Wimbledon, Wilding regretted the missed opportunity and endorsed his mother's summing up of the administrative bungling: "seems very careless of them & very annoying".^[2]

References

External links

• Cover of 1908 programme

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.