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1908 Olympic Games London, Great Britain - Men's 1500 m

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Details: Parent Category: Olympic Games (Athletics); Category: 1908 Olympic Games London, Great Britain - (Athletics); Last Updated: 16 April 2016; Hits: 806

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Host City: London, Great Britain

Format: Winner in each heat advanced to the final.

Date Started: July 13, 1908

Date Finished: July 14, 1908

(Competitors: 44; Countries: 15; Finalists: 8)

Venue(s): White City Stadium, London

Overview by IAAF

A truly international field for the first time was made to run just one preliminary round, with the result that only the winners of eight heats would qualify. Emilio Lunghi ran an excellent 4:03.8 in heat 3 – the second best time in the heats, but finished behind Hallows, whose time of 4:03.4 was an Olympic record. The unfortunate Italian thus failed to qualify. Sheppard had set an Olympic record of 4:05.0 in the preceding heat, just beating his countryman John Halstead (4:05.2e), another victim of the rigorous qualification procedures. In the final, Fairbairn-Crawford set the pace for 500m, and then Loney took over, but slowed the tempo down. The rhythm was little changed after Hallows took the lead, and only increased with 300m to go when Wilson made his big effort. Into the finishing straight Wilson led from Hallows, with Sheppard third, but the US 800m champion was too quick for the diminutive (1.63/52Kg) Briton and won by one and a half metres. Deakin, the fourth Briton home, was still running cross-country in his eighties.

Summary by Sports-reference.com

George Butterfield was the top British miler, having won the AAA title in 1905-07. Unfortunately, because of the qualifying system which advanced only one runner to the next round, Butterfield did not make the final. In his heat he drew Mel Sheppard, who set a new Olympic record of 4:05.0 to advance to the final. Norman Hallows (GBR) improved the record to 4:03.4 in the next heat. Hallows narrowly defeated Emilio Lunghi (ITA) whose estimated time of 4:03.8 would have won any of the other seven heats. These were yet further examples of the inequity of a qualifying system whereby only heat winners advanced to the next round.

Despite the fast qualifying times of Sheppard and Hallows, the favorite for the final was Harold Wilson (GBR) who had won the British Trials in a world record 3:59.8 in May. The final was held on a terrible day for running. It was noted, )The temperature was low, and a strong wind, laden with moisture, blew across the field, where the athletes sat shivering in blankets. The atmosphere was muggy and occasional showers, never attaining the dignity of real rain, now and then sprinkled the spectators and competitors.)

As expected, Wilson led the field into the home straight but was caught a few metres from the tape by Sheppard who equalled the Olympic record of 4:03.4 set by Hallows in the heats. With an estimated time of 4:03.6, a disappointed Wilson was almost four seconds outside his new British record.

			Results
In the second semifinal Mel Sheppard set a new Olympic record with 4:05.0 minutes only to be improved in the next run by Norman Hallows who ran 4:03.4 minutes. In the final Mel Sheppard equalized this time when he also ran 4:03.4 minutes.
*1500 m*	Men		Final	14 July
Crawford went out fast, leading for the first 500 metres before tiring badly. Wilson, Hallows, and Sheppard led out going into the final straight, but Sheppard's late burst powered him to the front. He won by about 2 yards and equalled the Olympic record that Hallows had set in the first round.
The start of the final.				Mel Sheppard winning the final.
Rank	Mark		Athlete	Country	NOC	Age	Records	Notes
1	4.03.4		Mel Sheppard	United States	USA	24	OR
2	4.03.6		Harold Wilson	Great Britain	GBR	23		4.03.6est
3	4.04.0		Norman Hallows	Great Britain	GBR	21		4.04.0est
4	4.06.8		Jack Tait	Canada	CAN	19		4.06.8est
5	4.07.6		Ivo Fairbairn-Crawford	Great Britain	GBR	23		4.07.6est
6	4.07.9		Joe Deakin	Great Britain	GBR	29		4.07.9est
AC	DNF		James Sullivan	United States	USA
AC	DNF		Vincent Loney	Great Britain	GBR	25
*1500 m*	Men		Round One Heat One	13 July
Meadows, de Fleurac, Smith, and Lightbody all had the lead during the race. Sullivan won by six yards.
Rank	Mark		Athlete	Country	NOC	Age	Records	Notes
1	4.07.6	Q	James Sullivan	United States	USA
2	4.08.6		Jim Lightbody	United States	USA	26		at 6 yds
3	4.12.2		Fred Meadows	Canada	CAN			at 14 yds
4			Francis Knott	Great Britain	GBR	25		run out
5			Joe Smith	Great Britain	GBR
6			Louis Bonniot de Fleurac	France	FRA	31
7			Nils Dahl	Norway	NOR	25
8			Ödön Bodor	Hungary	HUN	26
9			Jacques Keyser	Netherlands	NED	22
*1500 m*	Men		Round One Heat Two	13 July
Butterfield and Lee were ahead of Sheppard and Halstead at the bell, but the American pair proved the better runners on the straight and passed the English duo. Sheppard's time set a new Olympic record, with Halstead just behind him clocking in at the old record time.
Rank	Mark		Athlete	Country	NOC	Age	Records	Notes
1	4.05.0	Q	Mel Sheppard	United States	USA	24	OR
2	4.05.6		John Halstead	United States	USA	21		at 1 yd
3	4.11.8		George Butterfield	Great Britain	GBR
4	4.12.4		John Lee	Great Britain	GBR			4.12.4est / at 3 yds
5			Joseph Lynch	Australasia	ANZ	30
6			Kjeld Nielsen	Denmark	DEN	20
7			Arno Hesse	Germany	GER
*1500 m*	Men		Round One Heat Three	13 July
Lunghi was passed by Hallows on the last lap, who won by two yards. Both Hallows and Lunghi beat the Olympic record set by Sheppard in the previous heat; the pace caused the remaining four competitors to drop out.
Rank	Mark		Athlete	Country	NOC	Age	Records	Notes
1	4.03.4	Q	Norman Hallows	Great Britain	GBR	21	OR
2	4.03.8		Emilio Lunghi	Italy	ITA	21		at 2 yds
AC	DNF		Massimo Cartasegna	Italy	ITA	22
AC	DNF		Frank Riley	United States	USA	20
AC	DNF		Evert Björn	Sweden	SWE	20
AC	DNF		Charles Swain	Australasia	ANZ	23
*1500 m*	Men		Round One Heat Four	13 July
McGough led for the greater part of the race, with Loney and Coe passing him late and battling to the finish. Loney won by two yards.
Rank	Mark		Athlete	Country	NOC	Age	Records	Notes
1	4.08.4	Q	Vincent Loney	Great Britain	GBR	25
2	4.09.2		Harry Coe	United States	USA	22		at 2 yds
3	4.16.4		John McGeough	Great Britain	GBR	27		at 30 yds
4	bad 4th		Stylianos Dimitriou	Greece	GRE
5			Joseph Dréher	France	FRA	23
*1500 m*	Men		Round One Heat Five	13 July
Raugeneau dropped out on the second lap. Tait won by fifty yards.
Rank	Mark		Athlete	Country	NOC	Age	Records	Notes
1	4.12.2	Q	Jack Tait	Canada	CAN	19
2	4.19.6		József Nagy	Hungary	HUN	26		at 50 yds
3	4.25.2		Fredrik Svanström	Finland	FIN	22		4.25.2 h / long way bh
AC	DNF		Gaston Ragueneau	France	FRA	26
*1500 m*	Men		Round One Heat Six	13 July
Deakin won by seventy-five yards.
Rank	Mark		Athlete	Country	NOC	Age	Records	Notes
1	4.13.6	Q	Joe Deakin	Great Britain	GBR	29
2	4.30.0		Andreas Breynck	Germany	GER	17		at 75 yds
3	4.38.6		Arie Vosbergen	Netherlands	NED	25		at 125 yds
*1500 m*	Men		Round One Heat Seven	13 July
Galbraith led most of the race, but was passed by Wilson, who won by 30 yards.
Rank	Mark		Athlete	Country	NOC	Age	Records	Notes
1	4.11.4	Q	Harold Wilson	Great Britain	GBR	23
2	4.17.0		Jean Bouin	France	FRA	19		at 30 yds
3	4.20.2		William Galbraith	Canada	CAN	23
*1500 m*	Men		Round One Heat Eight	13 July
Braun, Dahl, and Crawford were the clear frontrunners for the entire race. Crawford pulled in front late, and won by four yards.
Rank	Mark		Athlete	Country	NOC	Age	Records	Notes
1	4.09.4	Q	Ivo Fairbairn-Crawford	Great Britain	GBR	23
2	4.10.4		Edward Dahl	Sweden	SWE	21		at 4 yds
3	4.18.2		Hanns Braun	Germany	GER	21		at 20 yds
4			Oscar Larsen	Norway	NOR	20
5			François Delloye	Belgium	BEL	19
6			Axel Andersson	Sweden	SWE	20
7			John Fitzgerald	Canada	CAN	21