Athletics at the 1912 Summer Olympics – Men's 1500 metres

The men's 1500 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 Tuesday, July 9, 1912, and on Wednesday, July 10, 1912.[1] Forty-five runners from 14 nations competed, including the Olympic champion from 1908, Mel Sheppard. NOCs could enter up to 12 athletes.[2]

Men's 1500 metres
at the Games of the V Olympiad
The finish with Arnold Jackson setting a new Olympic record.
VenueStockholm Olympic Stadium
DatesJuly 9 (semifinals)
July 10 (final)
Competitors45 from 14 nations
Winning time3:56.8 OR
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Arnold Jackson
 Great Britain
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Abel Kiviat
 United States
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Norman Taber
 United States
← 1908
1920 →

Arnold Jackson won the final by 0.1 second, ahead of an American trio, in what was acclaimed at the time as "the greatest race ever run". Aged 21, he remains the youngest ever winner of this event.

1912 was the last Olympics where "private entries" were allowed (i.e. not part of a country's officially selected team), and Jackson was one of these; his medal is credited to the United Kingdom. It was the second victory for Great Britain in the event, after 1900.

Background

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This was the fifth appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Two finalists from 1908 returned: gold medalist Mel Sheppard of the United States and fourth-place finisher John Tait of Canada. Sheppard was among the favorites, along with countrymen John Paul Jones, Norman Taber, and Abel Kiviat, as well as Arnold Jackson of Great Britain. Kiviat had broken the world record three times in May and June 1912.[3]

Russia, South Africa, and Turkey each made their first appearance in the event. The United States made its fifth appearance, the only nation to have competed in the men's 1500 metres at each Games to that point.

Competition format

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The competition consisted of two rounds, as in 1908. Seven semifinals were held, with anywhere between 3 and 8 runners in each. The top two runners in each heat advanced to the final, making a large (14 runners, compared to 8 or 9 in previous Games) final race.[3]

Records

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These were the standing world and Olympic records prior to the 1912 Summer Olympics.

World record   Abel Kiviat (USA) 3:55.8 Cambridge, United States 8 June 1912
Olympic record   Norman Hallows (GBR) 4:03.4 London, United Kingdom 13 July 1908

Abel Kiviat finished his semifinal only 1 second off the Olympic record time of 4:03.4; he and all six other finalists whose times are known broke that mark in the final. Kiviat took second behind Arnold Jackson, who set the new record at 3:56.8.

Schedule

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Date Time Round
Tuesday, 9 July 1912 14:30 Semifinals
Wednesday, 10 July 1912 15:30 Final

Results

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Semifinals

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All semi-finals were held on Tuesday, July 9, 1912.

Semifinal 1

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Mel Sheppard   United States 4:27.6 Q
2 Louis Madeira   United States 4:27.9 Q
3 Albert Hare   Great Britain 4:39.4

Semifinal 2

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Norman Taber   United States 4:25.5 Q
2 Philip Baker   Great Britain 4:26.0 Q
3 Georg Amberger   Germany 4:27.0
4–5 Teofil Savniky[4]   Hungary Unknown
Rūdolfs Vītols   Russia Unknown
Dmitri Nazarov   Russia DNF

Semifinal 3

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Abel Kiviat   United States 4:04.4 Q
2 Henri Arnaud   France 4:05.4 Q
3 Norman Patterson   United States 4:05.5
4 John Tait   Canada Unknown
5 Ferenc Forgács   Hungary Unknown
6–7 François Delloye   Belgium Unknown
Jacob Pedersen   Norway Unknown
Edward Owen   Great Britain DNF

Semifinal 4

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Arnold Jackson   Great Britain 4:10.8 Q
2 John Paul Jones   United States 4:12.4 Q
3 John Victor   South Africa 4:12.7
4 Lewis Anderson   United States Unknown
5 Oscar Larsen   Norway Unknown
6 Arnolds Indriksons   Russia Unknown
7 Alfrēds Ruks   Russia Unknown

Semifinal 5

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 John Zander   Sweden 4:05.5 Q
2 Evert Björn   Sweden 4:07.2 Q
3 Herbert Putnam   United States 4:07.6
4 Richard Yorke   Great Britain Unknown
5 Georg Mickler   Germany Unknown
6 Aleksandr Elizarov   Russia Unknown
7 Nikolay Kharkov   Russia Unknown
Charles Ruffell   Great Britain DNF

Semifinal 6

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Erwin von Sigel   Germany 4:09.3 Q
2 Oscar Hedlund   United States 4:10.8 Q
3 William Moore   Great Britain 4:11.2
4 Nils Frykberg   Sweden 4:11.2
5–6 Frederick Hulford   Great Britain Unknown
Andrejs Krūkliņš   Russia Unknown
Guido Calvi   Italy DNF

Semifinal 7

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Ernst Wide   Sweden 4:06.0 Q
2 Walter McClure   United States 4:07.3 Q
3 Joe Cottrill   Great Britain Unknown
4 Efraim Harju   Finland Unknown
5 Yevgeny Petrov   Russia Unknown
Vahram Papazian   Turkey DNF

Final

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The start of the final.

The final was held on Wednesday, July 10, 1912.

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
  Arnold Jackson   Great Britain 3:56.8 OR
  Abel Kiviat   United States 3:56.9
  Norman Taber   United States 3:56.9
4 John Paul Jones   United States 3:57.2
5 Ernst Wide   Sweden 3:57.6
6 Philip Baker   Great Britain 4:01.0
7 John Zander   Sweden 4:02.0
8 Walter McClure   United States Unknown
9–14 Henri Arnaud   France Unknown
Evert Björn   Sweden Unknown
Oscar Hedlund   United States Unknown
Louis Madeira   United States Unknown
Mel Sheppard   United States Unknown
Erwin von Sigel   Germany Unknown

References

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  1. ^ "Athletics at the 1912 Stockholm Games: Men's 1500 metres". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 23 October 2017.
  2. ^ Official report, p. 61.
  3. ^ a b "1500 metres, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
  4. ^ Savniky was also a poet, who changed his name to Teofil Marschalkó; under this name he competed for Hungary in the 1936 Summer Olympics arts competition (writing).

Sources

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  • 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.