Wrestling at the 1908 Summer Olympics – Men's freestyle featherweight

The freestyle featherweight was one of five freestyle wrestling weight classes contested on the Wrestling at the 1908 Summer Olympics programme. Like all other wrestling events, it was open only to men. The featherweight was the second-lightest class, allowing wrestlers of up to 60.3 kilograms (133 lb).^[1] Each nation could enter up to 12 wrestlers.^[2]

Men's featherweight freestyle wrestling at the Games of the IV Olympiad
Venue	White City Stadium
Date	July 22
Competitors	12 from 2 nations
Medalists
George Dole  United States James Slim  Great Britain William McKie  Great Britain
← 1904 1920 →

11 British athletes and 1 American participated.

Competition format

The event was a single-elimination tournament with a bronze medal match between the semifinal losers. The final and bronze medal match were best two-of-three, while all other rounds were a single bout. Bouts were 15 minutes, unless one wrestler lost by fall (two shoulders on the ground at the same time). Other than falls, decisions were made by the judges or, if they did not agree, the referee.

Wrestlers could "take hold how and where they please[d]" except that "hair, flesh, ears, private parts, or clothes may not be seized"; striking, scratching, twisting fingers, butting, and kicking were prohibited. Holds "obtained that the fear of breakage or dislocation of a limb shall induce a wrestler to give the fall" were outlawed, and particularly the double-nelson, hammerlock, strangle, half-strangle, scissors, hang, flying mare with palm uppermost, and the foot twist.^[3]

Results

Standings

Place	Wrestler	Nation
1	George Dole	United States of America
2	James Slim	Great Britain
3	William McKie	Great Britain
4	William Tagg	Great Britain
5	Alfred Goddard	Great Britain
	Sidney Peake	Great Britain
	James Webster	Great Britain
	Joseph White	Great Britain
9	Walter Adams	Great Britain
	Percy Cockings	Great Britain
	Risdon Couch	Great Britain
	William Jones	Great Britain

Bracket

	First Round			Quarter-finals			Semi-finals			Final
	Decision
	George Dole (USA)
				Decision
	Percy Cockings (GBR)
				George Dole (USA)
	Fall (2:14)
				James Webster (GBR)
	James Webster (GBR)
							Fall (6:00)
	Walter Adams (GBR)
							George Dole (USA)
	Fall (11:56)
							William McKie (GBR)
	Joseph White (GBR)
				Decision
	William Jones (GBR)
				Joseph White (GBR)
				William McKie (GBR)
										2–0 (fall (9:28)/decision)
										George Dole (USA)
	Fall (10:48)
										James Slim (GBR)
	Alfred Goddard (GBR)
				Fall (5:00)
	Risdon Couch (GBR)
				Alfred Goddard (GBR)
				William Tagg (GBR)
							Decision
							William Tagg (GBR)
							James Slim (GBR)			Third place
				Fall (9:00)						1–0 (decision/retired)
				James Slim (GBR)						William McKie (GBR)
				Sidney Peake (GBR)						William Tagg (GBR)

References

1. "Wrestling at the 1908 London Summer Games: Men's Featherweight, Freestyle". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 28 February 2019.
2. Official Report, p. 40.
3. Official Report, pp. 621–22.

Sources

• Cook, Theodore Andrea (1908). The Fourth Olympiad, Being the Official Report. London: British Olympic Association.
• De Wael, Herman (2001). "Freestyle Wrestling 1908". Herman's Full Olympians. Retrieved 28 May 2006.