Gymnastics at the 1908 Summer Olympics – Men's artistic individual all-around

The men's individual all-around, also known as the heptathlon, was one of two gymnastics events on the Gymnastics at the 1908 Summer Olympics programme. As suggested by the alternate name, the competition included seven events with the scores summed to give a final score.[1] Each nation could enter up to 20 gymnasts,[2] with France and Great Britain each entering the maximum. A total of 97 gymnasts from 12 nations competed. The event was won by Alberto Braglia of Italy, the nation's first medal in the men's individual all-around. Silver went to Walter Tysall of Great Britain, the first medal for the nation as well. France's Louis Ségura earned bronze.

Men's artistic individual all-around
at the Games of the IV Olympiad
Gold medalist Alberto Braglia on the pommel horse
VenueWhite City Stadium
DatesJuly 14–15
Competitors97 from 12 nations
Winning score317
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Alberto Braglia
 Italy
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Walter Tysall
 Great Britain
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Louis Ségura
 France
← 1904
1912 →

Unlike in 1904, the results for the individual all-around were not used for the men's team event in 1908.

Background

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This was the third appearance of the men's individual all-around. The first individual all-around competition had been held in 1900, after the 1896 competitions featured only individual apparatus events. A men's individual all-around has been held every Games since 1900.[3]

One of the top 10 gymnasts from the 1904 Games returned: silver medalist Wilhelm Weber of Germany. The reigning (1907) World Champion was Josef Čada of Bohemia.

Canada, Finland, the Netherlands, Norway, and Turkey each made their debut in the event. Germany made its third appearance, the only nation to have competed at all editions of the event to that point.

Competition format

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The events were:

  • Horizontal bar, swinging movements
  • Horizontal bar, slow movements
  • Parallel bars
  • Rings, swinging
  • Rings, stationary
  • Pommel horse
  • Rope climbing

With the exception of rope climbing, each competitor had a maximum of 2 minutes in each event (with a one-point penalty for exceeding the limit). Horizontal bars were set at heights of 250 cm and 220 cm; parallel bars were set at heights of 160 cm and 148 cm; rings were adjustable in 10 cm increments from 180 cm to 250 cm. The rope, which was 5 cm in diameter, had a top mark at 720 cm and marks below that every 45 cm down to 180 cm.[4]

Other than for rope climbing, each gymnast performed one "voluntary" exercise on each apparatus, with a maximum score of 24 points from each of the 3 judges.[5] Thus, there was a maximum of 72 points per exercise or 432 points from the six non-rope climbing exercises. Points were awarded for "(a) successful performance of exercise attempted; (b) difficulty and combination of movements; (c) style and sequence; (d) variety of movements."[6]

The rope climbing competition required gymnasts to climb hand-over-hand, with legs together and clear of the rope. Gymnasts had to climb in continuous motion; the judging ended when motion ceased to be continuous. The gymnast earned 12 point for every 18 inches climbed.[5]

Schedule

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Date Time Round
Tuesday, 14 July 1908 Final
Wednesday, 15 July 1908 Final, continued

Results

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The Official Report gives the places and scores of the first 19. A full list of results was printed in a French journal in August 1908,[7] but was not discovered until March 2020.[8]

Rank Gymnast Nation Score
  Alberto Braglia   Italy 317
  Walter Tysall   Great Britain 312
  Louis Ségura   France 297
4 Curt Steuernagel   Germany 273.5
5 Friedrich Wolf   Germany 267
6 Samuel Hodgetts   Great Britain 266
7 Marcel Lalu   France 258.75
8 Raphaël Diaz   France 258.5
9 Edward Potts   Great Britain 252.5
10 Jules Rolland   France 249.5
11 François Nidal   France 249
12 George Bailey   Great Britain 246
Karl Borchert   Germany 246
14 Antoine Costa   France 241.75
15 János Nyisztor   Hungary 236
16 Thomas Dick   Great Britain 233.5
Alfred Hodges   Great Britain 233.5
18 Georges Thurnherr   France 232
19 Guido Romano   Italy 230
20 Joseph Castiglioni   France 227
21 Otello Capitani   Italy 226.75
22 Joseph Lux   France 226
23 William Watters   Great Britain 225.5
24 James Graham   Great Britain 225
25 Josef Čada   Bohemia 222.5
26 Dominique Follacci   France 222
Gustave Charmoille   France 222
28 Auguste Castille   France 220
Wilhelm Weber   Germany 220
30 Fernand Castille   France 218
31 Joseph Cook   Great Britain 213
32 Victor Dubois   France 212.5
33 Josef Krämer   Germany 212
34 Kálmán Szabó   Hungary 209
35 Paulin Lemaire   France 207.25
36 Bohumil Honzátko   Bohemia 205.5
37 G. Meade   Great Britain 205
38 G. Mounier   France 204.5
39 Imre Gellért   Hungary 202.5
40 Heinrich Siebenhaar   Germany 198.5
41 Paul Fischer   Germany 198
42 Edgar Dyson   Great Britain 195.5
43 E. Gauthier   France 195
44 Jean Van Guysse   Belgium 194
45 Sidney Domville   Great Britain 193.75
46 Robert Hanley   Great Britain 193.5
47 Mihály Antos   Hungary 192.5
48 John Watters   Great Britain 187.5
49 Michel Biet   Netherlands 187.5
50 Georg Karth   Germany 186.5
51 William Fergus   Great Britain 183.5
52 Carl Körting   Germany 181
53 Wilhelm Kaufmann   Germany 180.5
Félicien Lekim   France 180.5
Antoine De Buck   Belgium 180.5
56 Edmund Aspinall   Great Britain 177
57 Gaston Ratelot   France 172.75
58 C. H. Smith   Great Britain 171.75
59 Allan Keith   Canada 170
60 Gerardus Wesling   Netherlands 165
61 Reinier Blom   Netherlands 160.5
62 Isidore Goudeket   Netherlands 159
Johannes Stikkelman   Netherlands 159
64 Emanuel Brouwer   Netherlands 158
65 August Ehrich   Germany 156.75
66 Johannes Posthumus   Netherlands 155.5
67 John Skrataas   Norway 154.5
Aleko Mulos   Turkey (Ottoman Empire) 154.5
69 Dirk Janssen   Netherlands 153.5
70 Petter Hol   Norway 152.5
71 Cornelus Becker   Netherlands 152.5
72 Jan Bolt   Netherlands 150.5
73 Otto Bauscher   Great Britain 149.5
74 Jan Jacob Kieft   Netherlands 149.5
75 Riku Korhonen   Finland 143.5
76 Carl Klæth   Norway 142
77 Frigyes Gráf   Hungary 141.5
78 Abraham Mok   Netherlands 141
79 A. V. Ford   Great Britain 141.5
80 Orvil Elliott   Canada 132.5
81 Jaska Saarivuori   Finland 132
82 Frithjof Olsen   Norway 127.5
83 Hendricus Thijsen   Netherlands 127
84 Conrad Carlsrud   Norway 124
85 Leonard Hanson   Great Britain 121
Iivari Partanen   Finland 121
87 Per Mathias Jespersen   Norway 120.5
88 Eetu Kosonen   Finland 120
89 Emmanuel Boislèvé   France 120
90 Johann Flemer   Netherlands 118.5
91 David Teivonen   Finland 117.5
92 Ole Iversen   Norway 117
93 Constantijn van Daalen   Netherlands 116.5
94 Eugen Ingebretsen   Norway 109
95 Herman van Leeuwen   Netherlands 101
96 Jonas Slier   Netherlands 96

References

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  1. ^ "Gymnastics at the 1908 London Summer Games: Men's Individual All-Around". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 12 July 2019.
  2. ^ Official Report, p. 35.
  3. ^ "Individual All-Around, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 31 March 2021.
  4. ^ Official Report, pp. 186–192.
  5. ^ a b Official Report, p. 485.
  6. ^ Official Report, p. 189.
  7. ^ "Heptathlon Gymnastic Competition". Les Jeunes : courrier de quinzaine du journal “Le Patronage”. 8 August 1908. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
  8. ^ "Individual All-Around, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 14 July 2020.

Sources

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  • Cook, Theodore Andrea (1908). The Fourth Olympiad, Being the Official Report. London: British Olympic Association.
  • De Wael, Herman (2001). "Gymnastics 1908". Herman's Full Olympians. Archived from the original on 23 February 2005. Retrieved 3 May 2006.