# Athletics at the 1912 Summer Olympics

These are the results of athletics competition at the 1912 Summer Olympics. 30 events were contested, all for men only.
The athletics programme grew by four events since the 1908 Summer Olympics. The 5000 and 10000 metre races were introduced, as the 5 mile event was eliminated. The 400 metre hurdle event made a brief disappearance, making the 1912 Olympics the only time that event was not held since its introduction in 1900. The 4x100 and 4x400 relays replaced the medley relay while the team race was shortened from 3 miles to 3000 metres. The decathlon, which had been held in 1904 but not in 1908, returned to the programme. Steeplechasing was eliminated, while racewalking was cut from 2 events to 1 with the 10 kilometre replacing the 10 mile and the 3500 metre eliminated. The pentathlon was introduced (as well as the separate sport modern pentathlon). The 1908 experiments of the Greek-style discus and the restricted javelin were replaced with two-handed throwing, for the shot put, discus, and javelin. Cross-country events, both for the individual and the team, were introduced. The competitions were held from Saturday, July 6, 1912, to Monday, July 15, 1912.

## Medal summary

| Event | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| 100 metres details | Ralph Craig United States | 10.8 | Alvah Meyer United States | 10.9 | Donald Lippincott United States | 10.9 |
| 200 metres details | Ralph Craig United States | 21.7 | Donald Lippincott United States | 21.8 | Willie Applegarth Great Britain | 22.0 |
| 400 metres details | Charles Reidpath United States | 48.2 WR | Hanns Braun Germany | 48.3 | Edward Lindberg United States | 48.4 |
| 800 metres details | Ted Meredith United States | 1:51.9 WR | Mel Sheppard United States | 1:52.0 | Ira Davenport United States | 1:52.0 |
| 1500 metres details | Arnold Jackson Great Britain | 3:56.8 OR | Abel Kiviat United States | 3:56.9 | Norman Taber United States | 3:56.9 |
| 5000 metres details | Hannes Kolehmainen Finland | 14:36.6 WR | Jean Bouin France | 14:36.7 | George Hutson Great Britain | 15:07.6 |
| 10,000 metres details | Hannes Kolehmainen Finland | 31:20.8 OR | Lewis Tewanima United States | 32:06.6 | Albin Stenroos Finland | 32:21.8 |
| 110 metres hurdles details | Fred Kelly United States | 15.1 | James Wendell United States | 15.2 | Martin Hawkins United States | 15.3 |
| 4 × 100 m relay details | Great Britain (GBR) Willie Applegarth Victor d'Arcy David Jacobs Henry Macintosh | 42.4 | Sweden (SWE) Knut Lindberg Charles Luther Ivan Möller Ture Person | 42.6 | none awarded | none awarded |
| 4 x 400 metres relay details | United States (USA) Edward Lindberg Ted Meredith Charles Reidpath Mel Sheppard | 3:16.6 WR | France (FRA) Pierre Failliot Charles Lelong Charles Poulenard Robert Schurrer | 3:20.7 | Great Britain (GBR) Ernest Henley George Nicol Cyril Seedhouse James Soutter | 3:23.2 |
| 3000 metres team race details | United States (USA) Tell Berna George Bonhag Abel Kiviat Louis Scott Norman Taber | 9 pts | Sweden (SWE) Bror Fock Nils Frykberg Thorild Olsson Ernst Wide John Zander | 13 pts | Great Britain (GBR) Joe Cottrill George Hutson William Moore Edward Owen Cyril Porter | 23 pts |
| Marathon details | Ken McArthur South Africa | 2:36:54.8 OR | Christian Gitsham South Africa | 2:37:52.0 | Gaston Strobino United States | 2:38:42.4 |
| 10 kilometres walk details | George Goulding Canada | 46:28.4 | Ernest Webb Great Britain | 46:50.4 | Fernando Altimani Italy | 47:37.6 |
| Individual cross country details | Hannes Kolehmainen Finland | 45:11.6 | Hjalmar Andersson Sweden | 45:44.8 | John Eke Sweden | 46:37.6 |
| Team cross country details | Sweden (SWE) Hjalmar Andersson John Eke Josef Ternström | 10 pts | Finland (FIN) Jalmari Eskola Hannes Kolehmainen Albin Stenroos | 11 pts | Great Britain (GBR) Ernest Glover Frederick Hibbins Thomas Humphreys | 49 pts |
| Long jump details | Albert Gutterson United States | 7.60 m OR | Calvin Bricker Canada | 7.21 m | Georg Åberg Sweden | 7.18 m |
| Triple jump details | Gustaf Lindblom Sweden | 14.76 m | Georg Åberg Sweden | 14.51 m | Erik Almlöf Sweden | 14.17 m |
| High jump details | Alma Richards United States | 1.93 m OR | Hans Liesche Germany | 1.91 m | George Horine United States | 1.89 m |
| Pole vault details | Harry Babcock United States | 3.95 m OR | Frank Nelson United StatesMarc Wright United States | 3.85 m | William Halpenny Canada Frank Murphy United StatesBertil Uggla Sweden | 3.80 m |
| Standing long jump details | Konstantinos Tsiklitiras Greece | 3.37 m | Platt Adams United States | 3.36 m | Benjamin Adams United States | 3.28 m |
| Standing high jump details | Platt Adams United States | 1.63 m | Benjamin Adams United States | 1.60 m | Konstantinos Tsiklitiras Greece | 1.55 m |
| Shot put details | Pat McDonald United States | 15.34 m OR | Ralph Rose United States | 15.25 m | Lawrence Whitney United States | 13.93 m |
| Discus throw details | Armas Taipale Finland | 45.21 m OR | Richard Byrd United States | 42.32 m | James Duncan United States | 42.28 m |
| Hammer throw details | Matt McGrath United States | 54.74 m OR | Duncan Gillis Canada | 48.39 m | Clarence Childs United States | 48.17 m |
| Javelin throw details | Eric Lemming Sweden | 60.64 m OR | Julius Saaristo Finland | 58.66 m | Mór Kóczán Hungary | 55.50 m |
| Two handed shot put details | Ralph Rose United States | 15.23 + 12.47 = 27.70 m | Pat McDonald United States | 15.08 + 12.45 = 27.53 m | Elmer Niklander Finland | 14.71 + 12.43 = 27.14 m |
| Two handed discus throw details | Armas Taipale Finland | 44.68 + 38.18 = 82.86 m | Elmer Niklander Finland | 40.28 + 37.68 = 77.96 m | Emil Magnusson Sweden | 40.58 + 36.79 = 77.37 m |
| Two handed javelin throw details | Julius Saaristo Finland | 61.00 + 48.42 = 109.42 m | Väinö Siikaniemi Finland | 54.09 + 47.04 = 101.13 m | Urho Peltonen Finland | 53.58 + 46.66 = 100.24 m |
| Pentathlon details | Jim Thorpe United States | 7 pts | Ferdinand Bie Norway | 16 pts | Frank Lukeman Canada | 24 pts |
| Pentathlon details | Jim Thorpe United States | 7 pts | James Donahue United States | 24 pts | Frank Lukeman Canada | 24 pts |
| Decathlon details | Jim Thorpe United States | 8412.955 pts | Hugo Wieslander Sweden | 7724.495 pts | Gösta Holmér Sweden | 7347.855 pts |
| Decathlon details | Jim Thorpe United States | 8412.955 pts | Charles Lomberg Sweden | 7413.510 pts | Gösta Holmér Sweden | 7347.855 pts |

## Medal table

| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | United States (USA) | 16 | 14 | 12 | 42 |
| 2 | Finland (FIN) | 6 | 4 | 3 | 13 |
| 3 | Sweden (SWE) | 3 | 6 | 6 | 15 |
| 4 | Great Britain (GBR) | 2 | 1 | 5 | 8 |
| 5 | Canada (CAN) | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 |
| 6 | South Africa (RSA) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 7 | Greece (GRE) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 8 | France (FRA) | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 8 | Germany (GER) | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 10 | Norway (NOR) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 11 | Hungary (HUN) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 11 | Italy (ITA) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Totals (12 entries) | Totals (12 entries) | 30 | 33 | 31 | 94 |

## Participating nations

556 athletes from 27 nations competed. Egypt was the only nation not to compete in athletics.
| Australasia (5)  Austria (12)  Belgium (2)  Bohemia (11)  Canada (18)  Chile (6)  Denmark (14)  Finland (23)  France (32) | Germany (24)  Great Britain (65)  Greece (5)  Hungary (27)  Iceland (1)  Italy (14)  Japan (2)  Luxembourg (2)  Netherlands (1) | Norway (23)  Portugal (4)  Russia (35)  Serbia (3)  South Africa (7)  Sweden (108)  Switzerland (1)  Turkey (2)  United States (109) |