Australasia at the 1908 Summer Olympics

Australasia was the name of a combined team from Australia and New Zealand that competed at the 1908 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom. It was the fourth appearance of Australia, which had not missed any edition of the Summer Olympic Games, and the first appearance of New Zealand. The two would compete together again as Australasia at the 1912 Summer Olympics before competing separately at every edition of the Summer Games since. In 1908 there were three New Zealanders, Harry Kerr, Henry Murray and Albert Rowland (a fourth New Zealander, hurdler Arthur Halligan, competed for Great Britain);^[1] all other competitors were Australian. There were 30 competitors for Australasia who competed in 20 events in six sports.^[2] A further two competitors, who were to compete in tennis, did not play as their nominations failed to reach the organisers.

Australasia at the 1908 Summer Olympics
Australasian Olympic Flag
IOC code	ANZ
in London, United Kingdom 27 April – 31 October 1908
Competitors	30 in 6 sports
Flag bearer	Henry St Aubyn Murray
Medals Ranked 11th	Gold 1 Silver 2 Bronze 2 Total 5
Summer Olympics appearances (overview)
1908 1912
Other related appearances
Australia (1896–1904, 1920–)  New Zealand (1920–)

Medallists

Further information: 1908 Summer Olympics medal table and List of 1908 Summer Olympics medal winners

Medal	Name	Sport	Event	Date
Gold	Australia national rugby union team John Barnett Phil Carmichael Daniel Carroll Bob Craig Thomas Griffen Jack Hickey Malcolm McArthur Arthur McCabe Patrick McCue Chris McKivat Charles McMurtrie Sydney Middleton Tom Richards Charles Russell Frank Smith	Rugby union		October 26
Silver	Snowy Baker (AUS)	Boxing	Middleweight	October 27
Silver	Frank Beaurepaire (AUS)	Swimming	Men's 400 m freestyle	July 16
Bronze	Harry Kerr (NZL)	Athletics	Men's 3500 m walk	July 14
Bronze	Frank Beaurepaire (AUS)	Swimming	Men's 1500 m freestyle	July 25

Athletics

Main article: Athletics at the 1908 Summer Olympics

Track & road events

Athlete	Event	Heat		Semifinal		Final
		Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank
Harvey Sutton	800 m	2:00.0	3	—		did not advance
Joseph Lynch	1500 m	Unknown	5	—		did not advance
Charles Swain		did not finish		—		did not advance
George Blake	5 miles	Unknown	3	—		did not advance
Joseph Lynch		did not finish		—		did not advance
Henry Murray	110 m hurdles	16.3	2	did not advance
Henry Murray	400 m hurdles	59.8	2	did not advance
Victor Aitken	Marathon	—				did not finish
George Blake		—				did not finish
Joseph Lynch		—				did not finish
Harry Kerr	3500 m walk	16:02.2	2 Q	—		15:43.4
Albert Rowland		16:08.6	3 Q	—		16:07.0	5
Harry Kerr	10 miles walk	1:18:40.2	3 Q	—		did not start
Albert Rowland		1:21:57.6	5	—		did not advance

Field events

Athlete	Event	Final
		Distance	Position
Ernest Hutcheon	Men's standing high jump	Unknown	19-23

Boxing

Main article: Boxing at the 1908 Summer Olympics

Athlete	Event	Round of 16	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Final
		Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Rank
Snowy Baker	Middleweight	Dees (GBR) W KO	Child (GBR) W	Philo (GBR) W	Douglas (GBR) L 1-2

Diving

Main article: Diving at the 1908 Summer Olympics

Athlete	Event	Preliminary Round		Semifinal		Final
		Points	Rank	Points	Rank	Points	Rank
Snowy Baker	3 m springboard	61.3	6	did not advance

Rugby

Main article: Rugby union at the 1908 Summer Olympics

Australasia won the only rugby union match played in 1908 against Great Britain, earning the gold medal. The Australasian representative was the Australia national team.

1908 Olympic Gold Final: Australasia v Great Britain

Event	Place	Players	Final
Men's rugby union	1st	Phil Carmichael, Charles Russell, Daniel Carroll, John Hickey, Francis Bede-Smith, Chris McKivat, Arthur McCabe, Thomas Griffen, John "Jumbo" Barnett, Patrick McCue, Sydney Middleton, Tom Richards, Malcolm McArthur, Charles McMurtrie, Bob Craig	Won vs. Great Britain 32–3

Shooting

Main article: Shooting at the 1908 Summer Olympics

Event	Place	Shooter	Score
Men's stationary target small-bore rifle	16th	William Hill	354
Men's moving target small-bore rifle	—	William Hill	Did not finish
Men's disappearing target small-bore rifle	18th	William Hill	36

Swimming

Main article: Swimming at the 1908 Summer Olympics

Event	Place	Swimmer	Heats	Semifinals	Final
Men's 100 metre freestyle	Semi- finalist	Frank Beaurepaire	1:11.6 1st, heat 3	Unknown 4th, semifinal 1	Did not advance
	Heats	Theo Tartakover	Unknown 2nd, heat 1	Did not advance
		Edward Cooke	Unknown 3–4, heat 6
Men's 400 metre freestyle	2nd	Frank Beaurepaire	5:49.2 1st, heat 4	5:44.0 1st, semifinal 1	5:44.2
	Semi- finalist	Theo Tartakover	6:35.0 1st, heat 3	Did not start —, semifinal 1	Did not advance
	Heats	Frank Springfield	5:57.4 2nd, heat 6	Did not advance
Men's 1500 metre freestyle	3rd	Frank Beaurepaire	23:45.8 1st, heat 2	23:25.4 2nd, semifinal 1	22:56.2
	Heats	Frederick Springfield	24:52.4 2nd, heat 4	Did not advance
Men's 200 metre breaststroke	—	Edward Cooke	Did not finish —, heat 5	Did not advance
Men's 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay	4th	Frank Beaurepaire Frederick Springfield Snowy Baker Theo Tartakover	None held	11:35.0 1st, semifinal 1	Unknown

Tennis

Les Poidevin and Anthony Wilding (who were partners in the 1906 Davis Cup preliminary round at Newport) were nominated for the Australasian team by the Australasian Lawn Tennis Association, but their nominations failed to reach the organisers. So the pair watched the "small, impoverished and out of place" Australasian contingent alongside the "tailored splendour" of some European teams. Although many leading tennis players bypassed the Olympic tournament (which followed almost immediately after Wimbledon) and his goal had been Wimbledon, Wilding regretted the missed opportunity and endorsed his mother's summing up of the administrative bungling: "seems very careless of them & very annoying".^[3]

References

1. Heidenstrom, P. (1992) Athletes of the Century. Wellington: GP Publications
2. Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Australasia at the 1908 London Summer Games". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 11 May 2017.
3. Richardson, Len; Richardson, Shelley (2005). Anthony Wilding, A Sporting Life. Canterbury: Canterbury University Press. p. 176. ISBN 978-1-877257-01-8.

External links

• Cover of 1908 programme

Sources

• Cook, Theodore Andrea (1908). The Fourth Olympiad, Being the Official Report. London: British Olympic Association.
• De Wael, Herman (2001). "Top London 1908 Olympians". Herman's Full Olympians. Archived from the original on 12 July 2006. Retrieved 7 June 2006.