Cycling at the 1908 Summer Olympics – Men's team pursuit explained

Event:	Men's team pursuit
Games:	1908 Summer
Venue:	White City Stadium
Date:	July 17
Competitors:	20
Nations:	5
Longnames:	yes
Gold:	Benjamin Jones, Clarence Kingsbury, Leon Meredith, Ernest Payne
Silver:	Max Götze, Rudolf Katzer, Hermann Martens, Karl Neumer
Bronze:	William Anderson, Walter Andrews, Frederick McCarthy, William Morton
Next:	1920

The men's team pursuit was one of seven track cycling events on the Cycling at the 1908 Summer Olympics programme. It was the first appearance of a pursuit-style event. Each nation could enter 1 team of 4 cyclists.^[1]

Competition format

In the team pursuit competition, teams started at opposite sides of the track. Each team raced three laps of the track, comprising 1980 yards (1810.5 m). The third cyclist in each four-man team to finish set the time for the team. The competition consisted of three rounds (heats, semifinals, and a final); in each round, 2 teams would compete in each heat. The winner of each heat would advance.^[2] The bronze medal was awarded based on the time of the two semifinal losers rather than a direct competition.^[3]

Results

First round

Heat 1

Rank	Cyclists	Nation	Time	Notes
1			Walkover
	Unknown

Heat 2

Rank	Cyclists	Nation	Time	Notes
1			Walkover
2	Unknown

Heat 3

The Dutch team had a bye in the first round.

Rank	Cyclists	Nation	Time	Notes
1			Walkover

Heat 4

In the only contested heat in the first round, the German team eliminated the French.

Rank	Cyclists	Nation	Time	Notes
1			2:25.4
2			2:32.0

Semifinals

Semifinal 1

The Canadians received third place overall as the faster of the two semifinal losers, while the British team moved on to the final.

Rank	Cyclists	Nation	Time	Notes
1			2:19.6
2			2:29.2^[4]

Semifinal 2

Rank	Cyclists	Nation	Time	Notes
1			2:31.8
2			2:44.0

Final

Place	Cyclists	Nation	Time
			2:18.6
			2:28.6

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

1. Official Report, p. 33.
2. Official Report, pp. 422–23.
3. Official Report, p. 125.
4. The Canadian team's semifinal time is listed in the Official Report as "2 min. 292 sec."