Athletics at the 1912 Summer Olympics – Men's decathlon

Men's decathlon
at the Games of the V Olympiad
1912 Hugo Wieslander.jpg Jim Thorpe1912 Olympics.jpg
Gold medalists Hugo Wieslander and Jim Thorpe
VenueStockholm Olympic Stadium
DatesJuly 13–15
Competitors29 from 12 nations
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Jim Thorpe  United States
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Hugo Wieslander  Sweden
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Charles Lomberg  Sweden
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Gösta Holmér  Sweden
1920 →

The men's decathlon was a track and field athletics event held as part of the athletics at the 1912 Summer Olympics programme. The competition was held from Saturday, July 13, 1912, to Monday, July 15, 1912. It was the first time the decathlon, which had been introduced in 1911, was held at the Olympics; a different ten-event competition, the all-around, had been contested in St. Louis in 1904. Twenty-nine decathletes from twelve nations competed. NOCs could enter up to 12 athletes.

Results

Jim Thorpe's gold medal was stripped by the International Olympic Committee in 1913, after the IOC learned that Thorpe had taken expense money for playing baseball, violating Olympic amateurism rules, before the 1912 Games. This moved everyone else up in the rankings. In 1982, the IOC was convinced that the disqualification had been improper, as no protest against Thorpe's eligibility had been brought within the required 30 days, and reinstated Thorpe's medals. This made Thorpe and Wieslander co-champions. In 2022, the IOC decided to display Thorpe as the sole gold medal winner after the Swedish Olympic Committee and Wieslander's surviving family members declared Thorpe should be acknowledged as the sole Olympic Champion.

Avery Brundage, president of the IOC from 1952 to 1972, competed in the decathlon finishing in 16th place. Brundage did not start in the last two events of the competition.

100 metres

Event 1
Place Athlete Time Score
1  Skotte Jacobsson (SWE) 11.0 952.4
 Eugene Mercer (USA) 11.0 952.4
3  Frank Lukeman (CAN) 11.2 904.8
 Jim Thorpe (USA) 11.2 904.8
5  Pierre Failliot (FRA) 11.3 881.0
 Otto Röhr (GER) 11.3 881.0
7  Gösta Holmér (SWE) 11.4 857.2
8  Einar Nilsson (SWE) 11.5 833.4
 Valdemar Wickholm (FIN) 11.5 833.4
10  Géo André (FRA) 11.6 809.6
 Harry Babcock (USA) 11.6 809.6
12  Ferdinand Bie (NOR) 11.7 785.8
13  James Donahue (USA) 11.8 762.0
 Charles Lomberg (SWE) 11.8 762.0
 Hugo Wieslander (SWE) 11.8 762.0
16  Alexander Abraham (GER) 12.0 714.4
 Svend Langkjær (DEN) 12.0 714.4
18  Karl Halt (GER) 12.1 690.6
 Manlio Legat (ITA) 12.1 690.6
20  Alfreds Alslebens (RUS) 12.2 666.8
 Avery Brundage (USA) 12.2 666.8
22  Erik Kugelberg (SWE) 12.3 643.0
 Gunnar Rönström (SWE) 12.3 643.0
 Josef Schäffer (AUT) 12.3 643.0
 Aleksandr Schultz (RUS) 12.3 643.0
26  Alfredo Pagani (ITA) 12.4 619.2
 George Philbrook (USA) 12.4 619.2
28  Viktor Hackberg (SWE) 12.5 595.4
29  Mgirdiç Migiryan (TUR) 13.3 405.0

Long jump

Shot put

High jump

6 of the 29 starters did not appear for the fourth event.

400 metres

5 more athletes, including the 6th-placed Nilsson, retired after the high jump and did not appear for the fifth event. This brought the number of non-finishers up to 11, leaving 18 to continue the competition.

Discus throw

Philbrook scored over 1000 points in the event by breaking the previous Olympic record (listed as 41.46 metres in the 1912 official report, though actually only 40.89 set by Martin Sheridan in 1908). Since the discus throw event had been held 2 days prior to the decathlon and Armas Taipale had far exceeded the old record, Philbrook's mark was not a new record. It did vault him from 5th place to 2nd following the 6th event, however.

110 metre hurdles

Pole vault

Two more athletes dropped out, leaving 16 left out of the original 29.

Javelin throw

Only 14 athletes, fewer than half of the original 29, began the penultimate event.

1500 metres

Hugo Wieslander in long jump.
Eugene Mercer in long jump.
Hugo Wieslander in pole vault.
Jim Thorpe in pole vault.

This page was last updated at 2022-10-18 03:53 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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