Swimming at the 1908 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metre freestyle

Men's 100 metre freestyle at the Games of the IV Olympiad
Venue	White City Stadium
Dates	July 17 July 20
Competitors	34 from 12 nations
Medalists
Charles Daniels  United States Zoltán Halmay  Hungary Harald Julin  Sweden

Swimming at the 1908 Summer Olympics
Freestyle
100 m	men
400 m	men
1500 m	men
Backstroke
100 m	men
Breaststroke
200 m	men
Freestyle relay
4×200 m	men

The men's 100 metre freestyle was one of six swimming events on the swimming at the 1908 Summer Olympics programme.^[1] It was the shortest of the three individual freestyle events, as the 50 yard freestyle had been dropped after its one appearance on the 1904 Summer Olympics programme. The 100 metre event was contested for the third time after it had been held at the 1896 and 1906 Olympics. The 1904 Olympics saw a 100-yard event. The competition was held on Friday July 17, 1908 and Monday July 20, 1908.

Thirty-four swimmers from twelve nations competed.

These were the first Olympic Games in which a 100-metre pool had been especially constructed (inside the main stadium's track and field oval). Previous Olympic events were swum in open water (1896: The Mediterranean Sea, 1900: The Seine River, 1904: an artificial lake).

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in minutes) prior to the 1908 Summer Olympics.

World Record	1:05.8	Zoltán Halmay	Vienna (AUT)	December 3, 1905
Olympic Record	1:22.2	Alfréd Hajós	Athens (GRE)	April 11, 1896 (NS)
	1:13.0(*)	Charles Daniels	Athens (GRE)	April 26, 1906 (NS)
	1:02.8(**)	Zoltán Halmay	St. Louis (USA)	September 5, 1904

(*) Intercalated Games

(**) 100 yards (91.44 m)

In the first heat Zoltán Halmay set a new Olympic record with 1:08.2. In the fifth heat Charles Daniels and in the seventh heat Wilfred Edwards equalized the standing world record of 1:05.8. Finally Charles Daniels set a new world record with 1:05.6 in the final.

Results

First round

The fastest swimmer in each heat and the two fastest losers advanced, qualifying 11 swimmers for the semifinals.

Heat 1

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1	Zoltán Halmay (HUN)	1:08.2 OR	QS
2	Theodore Tartakover (ANZ)	Unknown
3-6	Davide Baiardo (ITA)	Unknown
	Bouke Benenga (NED)	Unknown
	Harald Klem (DEN)	Unknown
	Herman Meyboom (BEL)	Unknown

Heat 2

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1	Otto Scheff (AUT)	1:11.8	QS
2	Addin Tyldesley (GBR)	1:12.0	qs
3-5	Gérard Meister (FRA)	Unknown
	József Munk (HUN)	Unknown
	Conrad Trubenbach (USA)	Unknown

Heat 3

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1	Frank Beaurepaire (ANZ)	1:11.6	QS
2	Lamme Benenga (NED)	1:13.2
3-5	Robert Andersson (SWE)	Unknown
	Henrik Hajós (HUN)	Unknown
	Poul Holm (DEN)	Unknown

Heat 4

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1	Harald Julin (SWE)	1:12.0	QS
2	John Derbyshire (GBR)	1:12.6
3-4	Victor Boin (BEL)	Unknown
	Robert Foster (USA)	Unknown

Heat 5

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1	Charles Daniels (USA)	1:05.8 =WR	QS
2	József Ónody (HUN)	1:13.2
3	George Innocent (GBR)	Unknown
4-5	René André (FRA)	Unknown
	Hjalmar Saxtorph (DEN)	Unknown

Heat 6

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1	Harry Hebner (USA)	1:11.0	QS
2	Paul Radmilovic (GBR)	1:12.0	qs
3-4	Edward Cooke (ANZ)	Unknown
	Fernand Feyaerts (BEL)	Unknown

Heat 7

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1	Wilfred Edwards (GBR)	1:05.8 =WR	QS
2	Robert Zimmerman (CAN)	1:35.0

Heat 8

Dockrell had no competition in the eighth heat.

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1	George Dockrell (GBR)	1:13.2	QS

Heat 9

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1	Leslie Rich (USA)	1:14.6	QS
2	André Duprez (BEL)	1:18.0

Semifinals

The fastest two swimmers from each semifinal advanced to the final.

Semifinal 1

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1	Zoltán Halmay (HUN)	1:09.4	QF
2	Harald Julin (SWE)	1:10.2	QF
3	Harry Hebner (USA)	1:11.8
4	Frank Beaurepaire (ANZ)	Unknown
5-6	Wilfred Edwards (GBR)	Unknown
	Paul Radmilovic (GBR)	Unknown

Semifinal 2

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1	Charles Daniels (USA)	1:10.2	QF
2	Leslie Rich (USA)	1:10.8	QF
3	George Dockrell (GBR)	1:11.4
4	Otto Scheff (AUT)	Unknown
5	Addin Tyldesley (GBR)	Unknown

Final

Place	Swimmer	Time
1	Charles Daniels (USA)	1:05.6 WR
2	Zoltán Halmay (HUN)	1:06.2
3	Harald Julin (SWE)	1:08.0
4	Leslie Rich (USA)	Unknown

References

Sources

• Cook, Theodore Andrea (1908). The Fourth Olympiad, Being the Official Report. London: British Olympic Association.
• De Wael, Herman (2001). "Swimming 1908". Herman's Full Olympians. Retrieved 12 May 2006.