He advanced to the finals in the men's 400 metres race at the 1908 Summer Olympics, winning his preliminary heat with a time of 50.8 seconds and his semifinal with 49.8 seconds. In the first running of the race, Taylor came in last place out of the four runners. However, teammate John Carpenter was disqualified after being accused of obstructing British runner Wyndham Halswelle and the race was ordered to be repeated without Carpenter. In protest at Carpenter's disqualification, Taylor and fellow American William Robbins refused to compete in the second final. Wyndham Halswelle ran the second final alone, with a time of 50 seconds, and was awarded the gold medal in the only walkover in Olympic history.