Athletics at the 1908 Summer Olympics – Men's freestyle javelin throw

Men's freestyle javelin throw at the Games of the IV Olympiad
Venue	White City Stadium
Date	15 July
Competitors	33 from 9 nations
Medalists
Eric Lemming  Sweden Michalis Dorizas  Greece Arne Halse  Norway

The men's freestyle javelin throw was one of six throwing events on the Athletics at the 1908 Summer Olympics programme in London. The javelin could be held anywhere, as opposed to the standard javelin throw which required the javelin to be held by a grip in the middle. This was the only time such a "freestyle" event was held at the Olympics. The competition was held on 15 July 1908. 33 throwers from nine nations competed. NOCs could enter up to 12 athletes.

Records

This was the modern Olympic debut of the javelin throw, discounting the 1906 Intercalated Games which are no longer considered part of the Olympics.

World record	Eric Lemming (SWE)	53.90(*)	Athens	26 April 1906
Olympic record	N/A

(*) unofficial

Eric Lemming set a new world and Olympic record throwing in the standard manner in the freestyle event. Two days later in the standard javelin throw event, Lemming improved his own world and Olympic record set in this event with 54.83 m.

Results

Eric Lemming set a new world and Olympic record with 54.44 metres. He threw the javelin in a conventional manner.

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Distance	Notes
	Eric Lemming	Sweden	54.44	WR
	Michalis Dorizas	Greece	51.36
	Arne Halse	Norway	49.73
4	Charalambos Zouras	Greece	48.61
5	Hugo Wieslander	Sweden	47.56
6	Armas Pesonen	Finland	46.04
7	Imre Mudin	Hungary	45.96
8	Jalmari Sauli	Finland	43.30
9	Juho Halme	Finland	39.88
10–33	Ferenc Jesina	Hungary	36.82
	Edward Barrett	Great Britain	Unknown
	Emilio Brambilla	Italy	Unknown
	Conrad Carlsrud	Norway	Unknown
	Alfred Flaxman	Great Britain	Unknown
	Nikolaos Georgantas	Greece	Unknown
	György Luntzer	Hungary	Unknown
	Walter Henderson	Great Britain	Unknown
	István Mudin	Hungary	Unknown
	Evert Jakobsson	Finland	Unknown
	Jarl Jakobsson	Finland	Unknown
	Verner Järvinen	Finland	Unknown
	John Johansen	Norway	Unknown
	Johan Kemp	Finland	Unknown
	Henry Leeke	Great Britain	Unknown
	Knut Lindberg	Sweden	Unknown
	Ernest May	Great Britain	Unknown
	Mór Kóczán	Hungary	Unknown
	Otto Nilsson	Sweden	Unknown
	Aarne Salovaara	Finland	Unknown
	Bruno Söderström	Sweden	Unknown
	František Souček	Bohemia	Unknown
	Ludwig Uettwiller	Germany	Unknown
	Emil Welz	Germany	Unknown

Sources

• Official Report of the Games of the IV Olympiad (1908).
• De Wael, Herman. Herman's Full Olympians: "Athletics 1908". Accessed 7 April 2006. Available electronically at [1] Archived 2006-09-27 at the Wayback Machine.