Athletics at the 1908 Summer Olympics – Men's 3 miles team race

The men's 3 miles team race was a unique event featured only at the 1908 Summer Olympics in London. In the team race, each competing nation sent five athletes. For each heat, the top three athletes from each nation had their placings counted as part of the team score, though good performances by the other two could also help the team by worsening the scores of other teams. Team scores were arrived at by adding the rankings of the top three runners from the team, with low scores being desirable. Thus, a team that took the first three places in a heat would receive 1+2+3=6 points, the best possible score.

Men's 3 miles team race
at the Games of the IV Olympiad
VenueWhite City Stadium
DatesJuly 14, 1908 (semifinals)
July 15, 1908 (final)
Competitors28 from 6 nations
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) William Coales
Joe Deakin
Archie Robertson
 Great Britain
2nd place, silver medalist(s) George Bonhag
John Eisele
Herbert Trube
 United States
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Louis de Fleurac
Joseph Dreher
Paul Lizandier
 France

Records

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This was the Olympic debut of this event. The world record for the 3 miles individual event at the time was 14:17 35.

World record   Alfred Shrubb (GBR) 14:17 35 South London 21 May 1903 [1]
Olympic record N/A

Results

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First round

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There were two heats in the first round, with three teams competing in each. The top two teams from each heat advanced to the final.

Heat 1

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The four British athletes finished the race hand-in-hand; official reports give them a joint first place in the heat though assigning points to the team as if they had placed first through fourth. Thus, Great Britain received 1+2+3=6 points. Neither Italy nor the Netherlands had three men finish the race, and thus they had no score and were unable to advance to the final.

Individual standings
Rank Name Nation Time Points
1 William Coales   Great Britain 15:05.6 1
Joe Deakin   Great Britain 15:05.6 2
Archie Robertson   Great Britain 15:05.6 3
Harold A. Wilson   Great Britain 15:05.6
5 Pericle Pagliani   Italy 15:22.6 5
6 Massimo Cartasegna   Italy 16:26.0 6
7 Arie Vosbergen   Netherlands 17:15.8 7
8 Willem Wakker   Netherlands 17:46.4 8
Wilhelmus Braams   Netherlands DNF
Dorando Pietri   Italy DNF
Emilio Giovanoli   Italy DNF
Norman Hallows   Great Britain DNF
Emilio Lunghi   Italy DNF
Team standings
Rank Nation Athletes Score Notes
Ind. Team
1   Great Britain William Coales 1 6 Q
Joe Deakin 2
Archie Robertson 3
  Italy Pericle Pagliani 5
Massimo Cartasegna 6
No third finisher
  Netherlands Arie Vosbergen 7
Willem Wakker 8
No third finisher

Heat 2

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The United States team finished with 10 points, France had 15, and Sweden had 21. The top six runners finished in proximity, but the fact that three of the runners were American ensured the top spot to the United States.

Individual standings
Rank Name Nation Time Points
1 Jean Bouin   France 14:53.0 1
2 John Eisele   United States 14:55.0 2
3 Herbert Trube   United States 14:55.0 3
4 Louis Bonniot de Fleurac   France 14:56.0 4
5 George Bonhag   United States 14:56.4 5
6 John Svanberg   Sweden 14:57.0 6
7 Georg Peterson   Sweden 15:14.4 7
8 Edward Dahl   Sweden 15:21.0 8
9 Axel Wiegandt   Sweden 15:33.0
10 Joseph Dréher   France 15:37.2 10
11 Gayle Dull   United States 15:37.4
12 Seth Landqvist   Sweden 15:46.4
13 Alexandre Fayollat   France 15:52.2
14 Paul Lizandier   France 15:56.6
Harvey Cohn   United States DNS
Team standings
Rank Nation Athletes Score Notes
Ind. Team
1   United States John Eisele 2 10 Q
Herbert Trube 3
George Bonhag 5
2   France Jean Bouin 1 15 Q
Louis Bonniot de Fleurac 4
Joseph Dréher 10
3   Sweden John Svanberg 6 21
Georg Peterson 7
Edward Dahl 8

Final

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Individual standings
Rank Name Nation Time Points
1 Joe Deakin   Great Britain 14:39.6 1
2 Arthur Robertson   Great Britain 14:41.0 2
3 William Coales   Great Britain 14:41.6 3
4 John Eisele   United States 14:41.8 4
5 Harold A. Wilson   Great Britain 14:57.0
6 George Bonhag   United States 15:05.0 6
7 Norman Hallows   Great Britain 15:08.0
8 Louis Bonniot de Fleurac   France 15:08.4 8
9 Herbert Trube   United States 15:11.0 9
10 Gayle Dull   United States 15:27.0
11 Joseph Dréher   France 15:40.0 11
12 Harvey Cohn   United States 15:40.2
13 Paul Lizandier   France 16:03.0 13
Jean Bouin   France DNS
Alexandre Fayollat   France DNS
Team standings
Rank Nation Athletes Score
Ind. Team
    Great Britain Joe Deakin 1 6
Arthur Robertson 2
William Coales 3
    United States John Eisele 4 19
George Bonhag 6
Herbert Trube 9
    France Louis Bonniot de Fleurac 8 32
Joseph Dréher 11
Paul Lizandier 13

References

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  • Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Athletics at the 1908 London Summer Games: Men's 3 mile, Team". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2020-04-17. Retrieved 2014-03-22.
  1. ^ "Spalding's official athletic almanac" (PDF). lynbrooksports.prepcaltrack.com. 1908. p. 141. Retrieved 28 July 2023.