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Athletics at the 1912 Summer Olympics – Men's 400 metres

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Men's 400 metres
at the Games of the V Olympiad
Reidpath winning gold with Braun in the foreground.
VenueStockholm Olympic Stadium
DatesJuly 12 (heats, semifinals)
July 13 (final)
Competitors49 from 16 nations
Winning time48.2 WR
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Charles Reidpath  United States
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Hanns Braun  Germany
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Edward Lindberg  United States
← 1908
1920 →
Athletics at the
1912 Summer Olympics
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The men's 400 metres was a track and field athletics event held as part of the Athletics at the 1912 Summer Olympics programme. The competition was held on Friday, July 12, 1912, and on Saturday, July 13, 1912. Forty-nine runners from 16 nations competed.[1] NOCs could enter up to 12 athletes.[2] The event was won by Charles Reidpath of the United States, the nation's fourth title in the event. Hanns Braun of Germany took silver, the nation's first medal in the men's 400 metres.

Background

It was the fifth appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. None of the finalists from 1908 returned. The favorites were all among by the American team: 1909 and 1911 AAU champion Edward Lindberg, 1911 IC4A champion Donnell Young, and 1912 IC4A champion Charles Reidpath.[3]

Australasia, Austria, Bohemia, Japan, Portugal, Russia, and South Africa appeared in the event for the first time. The United States made its fifth appearance in the event, the only nation to compete in it at every Olympic Games to that point.

Competition format

The competition consisted of three rounds. The first round had 15 heats, ranging from 1 to 6 runners. The top two runners in each heat advanced to the semifinals. The semifinal was to consist of 5 heats of 6 runners each, but one semifinal had only 5 runners because one preliminary heat had only had 1 runner. Only the top runner in each semifinal heat advanced, making a five-man final. The first two rounds were run without lanes, but an incident in the last semifinal resulted in the final being held with strings demarking lanes.[3][4]

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in seconds) prior to the 1912 Summer Olympics.

World record  Maxie Long (USA) 47.8(*) New York, United States 29 September 1900
Olympic record  Wyndham Halswelle (GBR) 48.4(**) London, United Kingdom 22 July 1908

(*) unofficial 440 yards (= 402.34 m)

(**) This track was 536.45 metres=1⁄3 mile in circumference.

The Olympic record of 48.4 seconds, set at the previous Olympics, fell in the final. Charles Reidpath broke the record with a 48.2 second performance. Reidpath's time was ratified by the IAAF as the inaugural official world record. Hanns Braun also broke the old Olympic record and Edward Lindberg tied it, en route to silver and bronze medals, respectively.

Schedule

Date Time Round
Friday, 12 July 1912 11:00
16:15		 Round 1
Semifinals
Saturday, 13 July 1912 15:00 Final

Results

Heats

All heats were held on Friday, July 12, 1912.

Heat 1

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 James Rosenberger  United States 50.6 Q
2 Charles Poulenard  France 50.7 Q
3 Wladyslaw Ponurski  Austria Unknown
— Claude Ross  Australasia DNF

Heat 2

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Ernest Haley  Great Britain 1:06.6 Q
2 Mel Sheppard  United States 1:06.6 Q

Heat 3

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Hanns Braun  Germany 50.6 Q
2 Ted Meredith  United States Unknown Q
3 Armando Cortesão  Portugal Unknown

Heat 4

Heat 4:Paul Zerling leads Yahiko Mishima.
Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Paul Zerling  Sweden 55.4 Q
2 Yahiko Mishima  Japan 55.5 Q

Heat 5

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Charles Lelong  France 50.2 Q
2 Donnell Young  United States 50.4 Q
3 István Déván  Hungary Unknown
4 Gustav Möller  Sweden Unknown

Heat 6

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Knut Stenborg  Sweden 1:01.6 Q

Heat 7

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Carroll Haff  United States 50.4 Q
2 Emilio Lunghi  Italy 50.5 Q
3 Max Herrmann  Germany Unknown

Heat 8

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Frigyes Wiesner  Hungary 50.8 Q
2 John Dahlin  Sweden 51.0 Q
3 Georges Malfait  France Unknown

Heat 9

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Eric Lindholm  Sweden 51.4 Q
2 Jacob Pedersen  Norway 51.6 Q
3 Heinrich Burkowitz  Germany 51.7
4 Václav Labík  Bohemia Unknown

Heat 10

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Edward Lindberg  United States 50.6 Q
2 James Soutter  Great Britain Unknown Q
3 Franco Giongo  Italy Unknown

Heat 11

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Clarence Edmundson  United States 50.2 Q
2 Ernest Henley  Great Britain Unknown Q
3 Mel Brock  Canada Unknown
4 Pyotr Gayevsky  Russia Unknown

Heat 12

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 George Nicol  Great Britain 50.0 Q
2 Ira Davenport  United States Unknown Q
3 Thomas Gallon  Canada Unknown
4 Erich Lehmann  Germany Unknown
5 Georges Rolot  France Unknown
6 Ödön Bodor  Hungary Unknown

Heat 13

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Jacques Person  Germany 55.4 Q
2 Joseph Wells  Great Britain 1:01.2 Q

Heat 14

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Cyril Seedhouse  Great Britain 51.5 Q
2 Ervin Szerelemhegyi  Hungary Unknown Q
— Alexander Pedersen  Norway 51.9 DSQ

Heat 15

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 George Patching  South Africa 51.1 Q
2 Charles Reidpath  United States 51.2 Q
3 Heinrich Wenseler  Germany Unknown
4 Alan Patterson  Great Britain Unknown
5 Robert Schurrer  France Unknown

Semifinals

The start of one of the semifinals.

All semi-finals were held on Friday, July 12, 1912.

Semifinal 1

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Charles Reidpath  United States 48.7 Q
2 Clarence Edmundson  United States Unknown
3 George Nicol  Great Britain Unknown
4 Frigyes Wiesner  Hungary Unknown
5 Charles Poulenard  France Unknown
— John Dahlin  Sweden DNS

Semifinal 2

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Edward Lindberg  United States 48.9 Q
2 Eric Lindholm  Sweden 50.2
3 Charles Lelong  France Unknown
— Jacques Person  Germany DNF
Cyril Seedhouse  Great Britain DNF
Joseph Wells  Great Britain DNF

Semifinal 3

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Ted Meredith  United States 48.8 Q
2 Mel Sheppard  United States 48.9
3 George Patching  South Africa 50.5
4 Knut Stenborg  Sweden 50.5
5 Jacob Pedersen  Norway Unknown
6 Ernest Henley  Great Britain Unknown

Semifinal 4

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Carroll Haff  United States 49.7 Q
2 Emilio Lunghi  Italy Unknown
3 Ervin Szerelemhegyi  Hungary Unknown
— Ernest Haley  Great Britain Unknown DNF
James Rosenberger  United States DNF
Yahiko Mishima  Japan DNS

Semifinal 5

Young was disqualified for elbowing Braun, knocking him to the outside of the track, as Braun tried to cut in front of him. This event resulted in lanes being used for the final the next day.[5][3]

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Hanns Braun  Germany 49.2 Q
2 Ira Davenport  United States Unknown
3 James Soutter  Great Britain Unknown
4 Paul Zerling  Sweden Unknown
— Donnell Young  United States DSQ

Final

Charles Reidpath (second from left) beats Hanns Braun (second from right) in the final.

The final was held on Saturday, July 13, 1912. It was held in lanes because of the incident between Young and Braun in the semifinals. There were three false starts before the race finally started legally. Meredith led early with a strong pace. Braun took the lead around the halfway mark. Reidpath finished strong, passing Braun in the final 15 metres.[6]

Reidpath's time broke the Olympic record; it was also recognized as the inaugural world record in the event at the formation of World Athletics (then known as the IAAF).

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes
1st place, gold medalist(s) 3 Charles Reidpath  United States 48.2 WR
2nd place, silver medalist(s) 2 Hanns Braun  Germany 48.3
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 5 Edward Lindberg  United States 48.4
4 1 Ted Meredith  United States 49.2
5 4 Carroll Haff  United States 49.5

References

  1. ^ "Athletics at the 1912 Stockholm Summer Games: Men's 400 metres". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 22 July 2017.
  2. ^ Official report, p. 61.
  3. ^ a b c "400 metres, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
  4. ^ Official Report, pp. 357–60.
  5. ^ Official Report, p. 359.
  6. ^ Official Report, p. 360.
  • Bergvall, Erik (ed.) (1913). Adams-Ray, Edward (trans.). (ed.). The Official Report of the Olympic Games of Stockholm 1912. Stockholm: Wahlström & Widstrand. {{cite book}}: |first= has generic name (help)
  • Wudarski, Pawel (1999). "Wyniki Igrzysk Olimpijskich" (in Polish). Retrieved 27 August 2006.
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