Cycling at the 1908 Summer Olympics – Men's 660 yards explained
The men's 660 yards was one of seven track cycling events on the Cycling at the 1908 Summer Olympics programme. It was the shortest of the events. The 1908 Games was the only time when the 660 yards event was part of the Olympic cycling program.[1] Each nation could enter a maximum of 12 cyclists.[2]
Competition format
The 660 yards race was a sprint-style race that consisted of a single lap around the track. The time limit for the race was 1 minute, 10 seconds. The competition was conducted in three rounds (heats, semifinals, and a final). The first round featured 16 heats, with up to 4 cyclists each. The winning cyclist advanced to the semifinals, provided that the time limit was not exceeded. The semifinal round comprised 4 semifinals, each with 4 cyclists except that 1 was reduced to 3 cyclists because one of the heats had resulted in no winner under the time limit. Again, the winning cyclist in each semifinal advanced to the final.
Results
First round
One cyclist from each of the 16 heats advanced to the semifinal round.
Heat 1
| Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time | Notes |
|---|
| 1 | | | 59.0 | |
| 2 | | | Unknown | | |
Heat 2
| Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time | Notes |
|---|
| 1 | | | 50.8 | |
| 2 | | | Unknown | |
| 3 | | | Unknown | | |
Heat 3
| Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time | Notes |
|---|
| 1 | | | 57.4 | |
| 2 | | | Unknown | |
| 3 | | | Unknown | | |
Heat 4
| Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time | Notes |
|---|
| 1 | | | 56.2 | |
| 2 | | | Unknown | |
| 3 | | | Unknown | | |
Heat 5
The fifth heat was voided due to the two cyclists both exceeding the time limit of 70 seconds.
| Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time | Notes |
|---|
| align=center rowspan=2 | — | | | No time | |
| | No time | | |
Heat 6
| Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time | Notes |
|---|
| 1 | | | 59.8 | |
| 2 | | | Unknown | |
| 3 | | | Unknown | | |
Heat 7
| Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time | Notes |
|---|
| 1 | | | 58.2 | |
| 2 | | | Unknown | |
| 3 | | | Unknown | | |
Heat 8
| Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time | Notes |
|---|
| 1 | | | 55.8 | |
| 2 | | | Unknown | |
| 3 | | | Unknown | | |
Heat 9
| Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time | Notes |
|---|
| 1 | | | 1:01.6 | |
| 2 | | | Unknown | | |
Heat 10
| Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time | Notes |
|---|
| 1 | | | 1:03.2 | |
| 2 | | | Unknown | |
| 3 | | | Unknown | | |
Heat 11
| Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time | Notes |
|---|
| 1 | | | 54.2 | |
| 2 | | | Unknown | |
| 3 | | | Unknown | |
| 4 | | | Unknown | | |
Heat 12
| Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time | Notes |
|---|
| 1 | | | 57.2 | |
| 2 | | | Unknown | |
| 3 | | | Unknown | | |
Heat 13
| Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time | Notes |
|---|
| 1 | | | 55.0 | |
| 2 | | | Unknown | |
| 3 | | | Unknown | | |
Heat 14
| Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time | Notes |
|---|
| 1 | | | 55.2 | |
| 2 | | | Unknown | |
| 3 | | | Unknown | |
| 4 | | | Unknown | | |
Heat 15
| Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time | Notes |
|---|
| 1 | | | 1:05.2 | |
| 2 | | | Unknown | | |
Heat 16
| Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time | Notes |
|---|
| 1 | | | 58.4 | |
| 2 | | | Unknown | |
| 3 | | | Unknown | | |
Semifinals
The fastest cyclist in each of the 4 semifinals advanced to the final.
Semifinal 1
| Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time | Notes |
|---|
| 1 | Victor Johnson | | 59.2 | |
| 2 | Johannes van Spengen | | Unknown | |
| 3 | Paul Texier | | Unknown | |
| 4 | Walter Andrews | | Unknown | | |
Semifinal 2
| Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time | Notes |
|---|
| 1 | Émile Demangel | | 51.6 | |
| 2 | Clarence Kingsbury | | Unknown | |
| 3 | William Bailey | | Unknown | |
| 4 | Floris Venter | | Unknown | | |
Semifinal 3
| Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time | Notes |
|---|
| 1 | Daniel Flynn | | 54.8 | |
| 2 | André Auffray | | Unknown | |
| 3 | George Cameron | | Unknown | |
| 4 | Ernest Payne | | Unknown | | |
Semifinal 4
| Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time | Notes |
|---|
| 1 | Karl Neumer | | 1:05.6 | |
| 2 | Lucien Renard | | Unknown | |
| 3 | Benjamin Jones | | Unknown | | |
Final
| Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time |
|---|
| Victor Johnson | | 51.2 |
| Émile Demangel | | Unknown |
| Karl Neumer | | Unknown |
| 4 | Daniel Flynn | | Unknown | |
Sources
- Book: Cook, Theodore Andrea . 1908 . The Fourth Olympiad, Being the Official Report . British Olympic Association . London.
- De Wael, Herman. Herman's Full Olympians: "Cycling 1908". Accessed 7 April 2006. Available electronically at http://users.skynet.be/hermandw/olymp/cyt1908.html .
Notes and References
- Book: Wallechinsky . David . The Complete Book of the Olympics . 1984 . Penguin Books . England . 0140066322 . 210 .
- Official Report, p.33.
