1908 Summer Olympics medals
LocationLondon,  Great Britain
Highlights
Most gold medals Great Britain (56)
Most total medals Great Britain (146)
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Two grey circular medals are shown side by side. The one on the left depicts a man riding a horse over a dragon, next to an angel; the one on the right shows two partially clothed women holding a laurel wreath over a naked man.
Olympic prize medal for the first three of each competition (front and obverse)

The 1908 Summer Olympics (also known as the Games of the IV Olympiad) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 April to 31 October 1908, in London, United Kingdom, coinciding with the Franco-British Exhibition.

A total of 2,008 athletes representing 22 nations participated in 110 events in 18 sports. Diving, field hockey, and figure skating were contested for the first time at these Games.[1] Argentina, Switzerland and Turkey were the only nations that did not earn any medals.[2]

The host nation, the United Kingdom, with by far the most competitors, dominated the medal table, collecting the most gold (56), silver (51), and bronze (39) medals.[2] The 146 medals won at these Games—a major increase from the two medals won at the 1904 Summer Olympics in St. Louis—are still the highest number won by a British delegation at any modern Olympics.[3] Particular success was achieved by the British team in the boxing events, where out of a possible fifteen medals across the five weight classes, they won all but the middleweight silver medal, which was taken by Reginald Baker competing for Australasia. The United States finished second in the medal standings, and Sweden third.

Australasia was the name given to the combined team of athletes from Australia (making its fourth Olympic appearance) and New Zealand (competing for the first time). The host team included a number of athletes from Ireland, at the time part of the United Kingdom. In contrast, Finland, which was integrated in the Russian Empire, competed in London as a separate country.[4]

Medal table

Dorando Pietri, who would have won a gold medal for Italy in the marathon but was disqualified after receiving assistance from umpires during the race, leaving the gold medal to American Johnny Hayes instead.[5]
British athlete Wyndham Halswelle, who won the gold medal in the only walkover in Olympic history in the men's 400 metres race after his American competitors withdrew following a controversial judging call.[6]

See also: Olympic medal table

This is the full table of the medal count of the 1908 Summer Olympics, based on the medal count of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). These rankings sort by the number of gold medals earned by a country. The number of silver medals is taken into consideration next and then the number of bronze medals. If, after the above, countries are still tied, equal ranking is given and they are listed alphabetically. This information is provided by the IOC; however the IOC does not recognize or endorse any ranking system.[2]

  Host nation (Great Britain)

RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1 Great Britain*[a]565139146
2 United States23121247
3 Sweden861125
4 France55919
5 Germany[a]35513
6 Hungary3429
7 Canada331016
8 Norway2338
9 Italy2204
10 Belgium1528
11 Australasia1225
12 Russian Empire1203
13 Finland1135
14 South Africa1102
15 Greece[b]0314
16 Denmark0235
17 Bohemia0022
 Netherlands0022
19 Austria0011
Totals (19 entries)110107107324

Notes

a The IOC medal database incorrectly shows the bronze medal for Dorothy Greenhough-Smith in women's figure skating for Germany (GER) instead of Great Britain (GBR), and therefore, counts 38 bronze medals for GBR and 6 bronze medals for GER.[2][7] The corrected totals are shown on this table.
b Anastasios Metaxas (GRE) is generally credited with a bronze medal in men's individual trap shooting; no tie-breaker was held. The 1908 official report lists Metaxas as having tied with Alexander Maunder (GBR) and assigns bronze medals to each. However, Metaxas does not appear in the IOC medal database, which lists only Maunder as sole bronze medalist.[2][8] The corrected totals are shown on this table.

References

  1. ^ "London 1908–Games of the IV Olympiad". International Olympic Committee. Archived from the original on 2009-04-20. Retrieved 2009-05-17.
  2. ^ a b c d e "London 1908 – Medal Table". International Olympic Committee. Archived from the original on 2008-12-05. Retrieved 2009-05-17.
  3. ^ "Olympics 2000: Ask Audrey". BBC News. 2000-09-23. Retrieved 2011-06-14.
  4. ^ Cook, Theodore Andrea (May 1909). The Fourth Olympiad London 1908 Official Report (PDF). London: British Olympic Association. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2009-06-17.
  5. ^ "Dorando Pietri – The Man Who Became Famous for Not Winning". Profiles. International Olympic Committee. Archived from the original on 2008-09-13. Retrieved 2009-05-16.
  6. ^ "Wyndham Halswelle". Inductees. Scottish Sports Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on 2008-08-28. Retrieved 2009-05-17.
  7. ^ Figure skating Results - Olympic 1908
  8. ^ Shooting Results - Olympic 1908

External links

Olympic Games medal tables
Summer Olympics medal table leaders by year
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