The men's individual all-around, also known as the heptathlon, was one of two gymnastics events on the Gymnastics at the 1908 Summer Olympics programme. As suggested by the alternate name, the competition included seven events with the scores summed to give a final score. Each nation could enter up to 20 gymnasts,Official Report, p. 35. with France and Great Britain each entering the maximum. A total of 97 gymnasts from 12 nations competed. The event was won by Alberto Braglia of Italy, the nation's first medal in the men's individual all-around. Silver went to Walter Tysall of Great Britain, the first medal for the nation as well. France's Louis Ségura earned bronze.
Unlike in 1904, the results for the individual all-around were not used for the men's team event in 1908.
Background
This was the third appearance of the men's individual all-around. The first individual all-around competition had been held in 1900, after the 1896 competitions featured only individual apparatus events. A men's individual all-around has been held every Games since 1900.
One of the top 10 gymnasts from the 1904 Games returned: silver medalist Wilhelm Weber of Germany. The reigning (1907) World Champion was Josef Čada of Bohemia.
Canada, Finland, the Netherlands, Norway, and Turkey each made their debut in the event. Germany made its third appearance, the only nation to have competed at all editions of the event to that point.
Competition format
The events were: Horizontal bar, swinging movements Horizontal bar, slow movements Parallel bars Rings, swinging Rings, stationary Pommel horse Rope climbing
With the exception of rope climbing, each competitor had a maximum of 2 minutes in each event (with a one-point penalty for exceeding the limit). Horizontal bars were set at heights of 250 cm and 220 cm; parallel bars were set at heights of 160 cm and 148 cm; rings were adjustable in 10 cm increments from 180 cm to 250 cm. The rope, which was 5 cm in diameter, had a top mark at 720 cm and marks below that every 45 cm down to 180 cm.Official Report, pp. 186–192.
Other than for rope climbing, each gymnast performed one "voluntary" exercise on each apparatus, with a maximum score of 24 points from each of the 3 judges.Official Report, p. 485. Thus, there was a maximum of 72 points per exercise or 432 points from the six non-rope climbing exercises. Points were awarded for "(a) successful performance of exercise attempted; (b) difficulty and combination of movements; (c) style and sequence; (d) variety of movements."Official Report, p. 189.
The rope climbing competition required gymnasts to climb hand-over-hand, with legs together and clear of the rope. Gymnasts had to climb in continuous motion; the judging ended when motion ceased to be continuous. The gymnast earned point for every 18 inches climbed.
Schedule
Date Time Round Tuesday, 14 July 1908 Final Wednesday, 15 July 1908 Final, continued
Results
The Official Report gives the places and scores of the first 19. A full list of results was printed in a French journal in August 1908, but was not discovered until March 2020.
Additionally, there is one single discrepancy, in names, with respect to ranking, between the "Le Patronage" journal's coverage and the Official Olympic report. In the Official Olympic report, Joseph Castiglioni of France, among the 19 names listed, is listed last, in 19th place, with no mention of Guido Romano of Italy among those 19 names. In "Le Patronage"'s coverage, Joseph Castiglioni is listed as being in 20th place, immediately after Guido Romano, who is listed as being in 19th place.
Rank Gymnast Nation Score Alberto Braglia 317 Walter Tysall 312 Louis Ségura 297 4 Curt Steuernagel 273.5 5 Friedrich Wolf 267 6 Samuel Hodgetts 266 7 Marcel Lalu 258.75 8 Raphaël Diaz 258.5 9 Edward Potts 252.5 10 Jules Rolland 249.5 11 François Nidal 249 12 George Bailey 246 Karl Borchert 246 14 Antoine Costa 241.75 15 János Nyisztor 236 16 Thomas Dick 233.5 Alfred Hodges 233.5 18 Georges Thurnherr 232 19 Guido Romano 230 20 Joseph Castiglioni 227 21 Otello Capitani 226.75 22 Joseph Lux 226 23 William Watters 225.5 24 James Graham 225 25 Josef Čada 222.5 26 Dominique Follacci 222 Gustave Charmoille 222 28 Auguste Castille 220 Wilhelm Weber 220 30 Fernand Castille 218 31 Joseph Cook 213 32 Victor Dubois 212.5 33 Josef Krämer 212 34 Kálmán Szabó 209 35 Paulin Lemaire 207.25 36 Bohumil Honzátko 205.5 37 G. Meade 205 38 G. Mounier 204.5 39 Imre Gellért 202.5 40 Heinrich Siebenhaar 198.5 41 Paul Fischer 198 42 Edgar Dyson 195.5 43 E. Gauthier 195 44 Jean Van Guysse 194 45 Sidney Domville 193.75 46 Robert Hanley 193.5 47 Mihály Antos 192.5 48 John Watters 187.5 49 Michel Biet 187.5 50 Georg Karth 186.5 51 William Fergus 183.5 52 Carl Körting 181 53 Wilhelm Kaufmann 180.5 Félicien Lekim 180.5 Antoine De Buck 180.5 56 Edmund Aspinall 177 57 Gaston Ratelot 172.75 58 C. H. Smith 171.75 59 Allan Keith 170 60 Gerardus Wesling 165 61 Reinier Blom 160.5 62 Isidore Goudeket 159 Johannes Stikkelman 159 64 Emanuel Brouwer 158 65 August Ehrich 156.75 66 Johannes Posthumus 155.5 67 John Skrataas 154.5 Aleko Mulos (Ottoman Empire) 154.5 69 Dirk Janssen 153.5 70 Petter Hol 152.5 71 Cornelus Becker 152.5 72 Jan Bolt 150.5 73 Otto Bauscher 149.5 74 Jan Jacob Kieft 149.5 75 Riku Korhonen 143.5 76 Carl Klæth 142 77 Frigyes Gráf 141.5 78 Abraham Mok 141 79 A. V. Ford 141.5 80 Orvil Elliott 132.5 81 Jaska Saarivuori 132 82 Frithjof Olsen 127.5 83 Hendricus Thijsen 127 84 Conrad Carlsrud 124 85 Leonard Hanson 121 Iivari Partanen 121 87 Per Mathias Jespersen 120.5 88 Eetu Kosonen 120 89 Emmanuel Boislèvé 120 90 Johann Flemer 118.5 91 David Teivonen 117.5 92 Ole Iversen 117 93 Constantijn van Daalen 116.5 94 Eugen Ingebretsen 109 95 Herman van Leeuwen 101 96 Jonas Slier 96
References
Sources