Athletics at the 1912 Summer Olympics – Men's 4 × 100 metres relay

The men's 4 × 100 meters relay was a track and field athletics event held as part of the Athletics at the 1912 Summer Olympics program. It was the debut of the event, which along with the 4 × 400-meter relays marked the first relays of equal legs in the athletics program (a medley relay had been held in 1908). The competition was held on Monday, July 8, 1912, and on Tuesday, July 9, 1912.[1]

Men's 4 × 100 metres relay
at the Games of the V Olympiad
The winning British relay team.
VenueStockholm Olympic Stadium
DatesJuly 8, 1912 (heats, semifinals)
July 9, 1912 (final)
Competitors33 from 8 nations
Medalists
Victor d'Arcy
Willie Applegarth
Henry Macintosh
David Jacobs		  Great Britain
Knut Lindberg
Charles Luther
Ivan Möller
Ture Person		  Sweden
Official Video
Athletics at the
1912 Summer Olympics
Track events
100 mmen
200 mmen
400 mmen
800 mmen
1500 mmen
5000 mmen
10,000 mmen
110 m hurdlesmen
4×100 m relaymen
4×400 m relaymen
3000 m team racemen
10 km walkmen
Road events
Marathonmen
Field events
Long jumpmen
Triple jumpmen
High jumpmen
Pole vaultmen
Standing long jumpmen
Standing high jumpmen
Shot putmen
Discus throwmen
Hammer throwmen
Javelin throwmen
2-hand shot putmen
2-hand discusmen
2-hand javelinmen
Combined events
Pentathlonmen
Decathlonmen
Cross-country events
Individualmen
Teammen

Thirty-three runners from 8 nations competed. Only Germany replaced one runner.

Records

The record for the new event progressed quickly, with the Canadians winning the first heat. The Americans and then the Swedes then took the record, with the Germans tying the Swedes. The British took the record in the first semifinal, only to lose it quickly to the Swedes in the second. This time, the Germans running in the third semifinal bested the Swedish team's time to take the record for themselves after replacing Karl Halt with Otto Röhr as their lead-off runner.

The German team held the record at the finish, despite finishing in second (and then being disqualified for a baton-passing fault) in the final. Their disqualification left the event without a bronze medalist, making it the only athletics event to award only two medals.

The record of the German team with 42.3 became the first official world record for the 4 × 100 meters relay.

Results

Heats

All heats were held on Monday, July 8, 1912.

Only two teams were eliminated after the first round.

Heat 1

PlaceAthletesTimeQual.
1 Frank McConnell, Frank Lukeman, Harry Beasley, John Howard (CAN)46.2 ORQS

Heat 2

PlaceAthletesTimeQual.
1 Ira Courtney, Frank Belote, Clement Wilson, Carl Cooke (USA)43.7 ORQS

Heat 3

PlaceAthletesTimeQual.
1 David Jacobs, Henry Macintosh, Willie Applegarth, Victor d'Arcy (GBR)45.0QS

Heat 4

PlaceAthletesTimeQual.
1 Ivan Möller, Charles Luther, Ture Person, Knut Lindberg (SWE)43.6 ORQS

Heat 5

PlaceAthletesTimeQual.
1 Karl Halt, Max Herrmann, Erwin Kern, Richard Rau (GER)43.6 =ORQS
2 Gustav Kröjer, Rudolf Rauch, Fritz Weinzinger, Fritz Fleischer (AUT)44.8

Heat 6

PlaceAthletesTimeQual.
1 Ferenc Szobota, Vilmos Rácz, Pál Szalay, István Jankovich (HUN)43.7QS
2 Pierre Failliot, Georges Rolot, Charles Lelong, René Mourlon (FRA)43.8

Semifinals

All semifinals were held on Monday, July 8, 1912.

Semifinal 1

The United States team was disqualified after a baton-passing fault on the first transfer.

PlaceAthletesTimeQual.
1 David Jacobs, Henry Macintosh, Willie Applegarth, Victor d'Arcy (GBR)43.0 ORQF
— Ira Courtney, Frank Belote, Clement Wilson, Carl Cooke (USA)Disqualified

Semifinal 2

PlaceAthletesTimeQual.
1 Ivan Möller, Charles Luther, Ture Person, Knut Lindberg (SWE)42.5 ORQF
2 Ferenc Szobota, Vilmos Rácz, Pál Szalay, István Jankovich (HUN)42.9

Semifinal 3

PlaceAthletesTimeQual.
1 Otto Röhr, Max Herrmann, Erwin Kern, Richard Rau (GER)42.3 ORQF
2 Frank McConnell, Frank Lukeman, Harry Beasley, John Howard (CAN)43.5

Final

The final was held on Tuesday, July 9, 1912.

Rau, erasing a deficit held since the first runners in the order, finished barely behind d'Arcy but the German team had committed a fault with its second baton passing as Kern passed the 20 metre line before receiving the baton. The Germans were disqualified, leaving no bronze medalist in the event as the British team finished with the gold and the Swedes moved up to second place.

PlaceAthletesTime
1 David Jacobs, Henry Macintosh, Willie Applegarth, Victor d'Arcy (GBR)42.4
2 Ivan Möller, Charles Luther, Ture Person, Knut Lindberg (SWE)42.6
— Otto Röhr, Max Herrmann, Erwin Kern, Richard Rau (GER)Disqualified
  • Semifinal 2: Team Sweden on the left and the Hungarian team on the right.
  • The final: Team Germany passing the baton.
  • The finish of the final: Victor d'Arcy on the left[2][3] winning the race for Great Britain. On the right finishing second but later disqualified, Richard Rau for Germany.

References
  1. "Athletics at the 1912 Stockholm Summer Games: Men's 4 × 100 metres Relay". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 9 August 2017.
  2. Vic d'Arcy. sports-reference.com
  3. Olympia 1912 Stockholm. gettyimages.co.uk

Sources
  • Bergvall, Erik (ed.) (1913). Adams-Ray, Edward (trans.). (ed.). The Official Report of the Olympic Games of Stockholm 1912. Stockholm: Wahlström & Widstrand.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
  • Wudarski, Pawel (1999). "Wyniki Igrzysk Olimpijskich" (in Polish). Retrieved 1 January 2007.
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