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Athletics at the 1908 London Summer Games:

Men's Discus Throw, Greek Style

Athletics at the 1908 Summer Games: Previous Summer Games

Events:
Phases:

Host City: London, Great Britain
Venue(s): White City Stadium, London; White City Stadium, London
Date Started: July 18, 1908
Date Finished: July 18, 1908

Gold: USA Martin Sheridan
Silver: USA Bill Horr
Bronze: FIN Verner Järvinen

Summary

Classics scholars maintain that this event was based on a mistranslation of a corrupt text and does not truly represent the style actually used by the Ancient Greeks. Although the first four competitors beat the world record for this event, the fact was not appreciated by the spectators due to an error in the program. The world record listed in the program was that for the freestyle event (128-10 39.29]), rather than the 115-4 (35.16) world record for the Greek-style event, which had been set by [Verner Järvinen (FIN) at the 1906 Olympics.

Martin Sheridan completed his "double" of winning both discus events at the same Olympics. This also was his last Olympic medal in a storied career which saw him win five gold, three silver, and one bronze medal for nine Olympic medals in all.

Final Standings

Rank Athlete Age Team NOC Medal D(M) D(I)
1 Martin Sheridan 27 United States USA Gold 37.99 124-8 WR
2 Bill Horr 27 United States USA Silver 37.32 122-5½
3 Verner Järvinen 38 Finland FIN Bronze 36.48 119-8¼
4 Arthur Dearborn 21 United States USA 35.65 116-11½
5 Mikhail Dorizas 22 Greece GRE 33.34 109-4½
6 Nikolaos Georgantas 28 Greece GRE 33.21 108-11¼
7 István Mudin 26 Hungary HUN 33.11 108-7½
8 Wilbur Burroughs 23 United States USA 32.81 107-7¾
9 Elmer Niklander 18 Finland FIN 32.46 106-6
10 Umberto Avattaneo 25 Italy ITA 28.53 93-7¼
AC Platt Adams 23 United States USA
AC Miroslav Šustera 30 Bohemia BOH
AC Henry Leeke 28 Great Britain GBR
AC Walter Henderson 27 Great Britain GBR
AC Folke Fleetwood 17 Sweden SWE
AC Imre Mudin 20 Hungary HUN
AC Johnny Garrels 22 United States USA
AC Ernest May 29 Great Britain GBR
AC Alfred Flaxman 28 Great Britain GBR
AC Mór Kóczán 23 Hungary HUN
AC James Barrett 28 Great Britain GBR
AC György Luntzer 21 Hungary HUN
AC Eric Lemming 28 Sweden SWE