Wikipedia

Cycling at the 1908 Summer Olympics – Men's sprint

The men's 1000 metre sprint was one of seven track cycling events on the Cycling at the 1908 Summer Olympics programme. Its distance was the second shortest of the individual event distances. Each nation could enter up to 12 cyclists.[1]

Men's sprint
at the Games of the IV Olympiad
Maurice Schilles
VenueWhite City Stadium
DateJuly 16, 1908
Competitors42 from 10 nations
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Not awarded
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Not awarded
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Not awarded
← 1900
1920 →

Background

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This was the third appearance of the event, which has been held at every Summer Olympics except 1904 and 1912. None of the finalists from 1900 returned.[2]

Canada, Great Britain, the Netherlands, South Africa, and Sweden each made their debut in the men's sprint. France and Germany made their third appearance, having competed in both previous editions of the event.

Competition format

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The 1000 metre sprint race consisted of approximately 1 2⁄3 laps of the 660 yard track. The time limit for the race was 1 minute and 45 seconds. The competition was conducted in three rounds (quarterfinals, semifinals, and a final). The quarterfinals featured 16 heats, with up to 4 cyclists each. The winning cyclist in each heat advanced to the semifinals, provided that the time limit was not exceeded. The semifinal round comprised 4 semifinals, each with 4 cyclists except that 2 were reduced to 3 cyclists because two of the heats had resulted in no winner under the time limit. Again, the winning cyclist in each semifinal advanced to the final.

Records

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The records for the sprint are 200 metre flying time trial records, kept for the qualifying round in later Games as well as for the finish of races.

World record Unknown Unknown* Unknown Unknown
Olympic record   Albert Taillandier (FRA) 12.6 Paris, France 13 September 1900

* World records were not tracked by the UCI until 1954.

The 200 metre sprint splits were not tracked for this Games, so no new records were set.

Schedule

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Date Time Round
Thursday, 16 July 1908 15:00
16:45
17:30		 Quarterfinals
Semifinals
Final

Results

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Quarterfinals

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Quarterfinal 1

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Johnson won by two lengths.[2]

Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
1 Victor Johnson   Great Britain 1:33.8 Q
2 Gerard Bosch van Drakenstein   Netherlands Unknown
3 Guglielmo Malatesta   Italy Unknown

Quarterfinal 2

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Poulain was a wheel behind Venter.[2]

Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
1 Floris Venter   South Africa 1:33.2 Q
2 André Poulain   France Unknown
3 Thomas Matthews   Great Britain Unknown

Quarterfinal 3

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Hansson was one length behind Schilles.[2]

Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
1 Maurice Schilles   France 1:38.4 Q
2 Andrew Hansson   Sweden Unknown

Quarterfinal 4

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Flynn won by two lengths.[2]

Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
1 Daniel Flynn   Great Britain 1:30.2 Q
2 Pierre Seginaud   France Unknown
3 Paul Schulze   Germany Unknown
4 Frederick McCarthy   Canada Unknown

Quarterfinal 5

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Nijland trailed Payne by a length and a half.[2]

Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
1 Ernest Payne   Great Britain 1:32.0 Q
2 Dorus Nijland   Netherlands Unknown

Quarterfinal 6

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Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
— W. F. Magee   Great Britain Time limit exceeded
Hermann Martens   Germany
Johannes van Spengen   Netherlands

Quarterfinal 7

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Neumer won by two lengths.[2]

Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
1 Karl Neumer   Germany 1:33.2 Q
2 Richard Villepontoux   France Unknown
3 William Bailey   Great Britain Unknown

Quarterfinal 8

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Cameron won by two lengths.[2]

Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
1 George Cameron   United States 1:29.4 Q
2 Philipus Freylinck   South Africa Unknown
3 Herbert Crowther   Great Britain Unknown
4 Gaston Dreyfus   France Unknown

Quarterfinal 9

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Morton was two and a half lengths behind Demangel.[2]

Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
1 Émile Demangel   France 1:35.2 Q
2 William Morton   Canada Unknown

Quarterfinal 10

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Auffray was the only starter in the heat.

Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
1 André Auffray   France 1:23.6 Q

Quarterfinal 11

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Morisetti was the only starter in the heat.

Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
1 Guglielmo Morisetti   Italy 1:21.4 Q

Quarterfinal 12

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Marechal was one length behind Jones.[2]

Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
1 Benjamin Jones   Great Britain 1:35.0 Q
2 Émile Marechal   France Unknown
3 Bruno Götze   Germany Unknown

Quarterfinal 13

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Summers was nearly two lengths behind Texier.[2]

Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
1 Pierre Texier   France 1:31.0 Q
2 George Summers   Great Britain Unknown
3 Louis Weintz   United States Unknown

Quarterfinal 14

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Lavery won easily.[2]

Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
1 Joe Lavery   Great Britain 1:41.0 Q
2 Antonie Gerrits   Netherlands Unknown

Quarterfinal 15

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Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
1 Clarence Kingsbury   Great Britain 1:27.4 Q
2 Gaston Delaplane   France Unknown

Quarterfinal 16

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Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
— Georges Perrin   France Time limit exceeded
Frank Shore   South Africa

Semifinals

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Semifinal 1

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Neumer was inches behind Johnson.[2]

Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
1 Victor Johnson   Great Britain 1:27.4 Q
2 Karl Neumer   Germany Unknown
3 Floris Venter   South Africa Unknown
4 Pierre Texier   France Unknown

Semifinal 2

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Payne was over a length behind Schilles; placement of the three non-qualifiers is unclear.

Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
1 Maurice Schilles   France 1:38.8 Q
2–4 George Cameron   United States Unknown
Daniel Flynn   Great Britain Unknown
Ernest Payne   Great Britain Unknown

Semifinal 3

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Jones won by half a wheel.[2]

Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
1 Benjamin Jones   Great Britain 1:40.8 Q
2 Émile Demangel   France Unknown
3 J. L. Lavery   Great Britain Unknown

Semifinal 4

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Morisetti was two lengths behind Kingsbury.[2]

Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
1 Clarence Kingsbury   Great Britain 1:35.6 Q
2 Guglielmo Morisetti   Italy Unknown
3 André Auffray   France Unknown

Final

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Johnson suffered a punctured wheel shortly after the start, and retired. The other three riders crawled around the track, jockeying for position. When the final sprint occurred on the last lap, Kingsbury also punctured a tyre when entering the main straight. Jones and Schilles raced to the finish line, with Schilles winning by a couple of inches. However the race took longer than the 1 minute 45 second time limit, and was declared void. Much to the surprise of spectators and the competitors, the National Cyclists Union refused to allow the race to be rerun.[3] According to the Official Report, "the Frenchman apparently won by inches, but the Judge did not officially place the riders.[4]"

Rank Cyclist Nation Time
– Victor Johnson   Great Britain NMR
Benjamin Jones   Great Britain
Clarence Kingsbury   Great Britain
Maurice Schilles   France

Notes

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  1. ^ Official Report, p. 33.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o "Sprint, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
  3. ^ Wallechinsky, David (1984). The Complete Book of the Olympics. England: Penguin Books. p. 199. ISBN 978-0140066326.
  4. ^ Cook, p. 116

Sources

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  • Cook, Theodore Andrea (1908). The Fourth Olympiad, Being the Official Report. London: British Olympic Association.
  • De Wael, Herman. Herman's Full Olympians: "Cycling 1908". Accessed 7 April 2006. Available electronically at [1] Archived 2014-05-05 at the Wayback Machine.
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