The men's 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay, or 800 metre team race, was one of six swimming events on the Swimming at the 1908 Summer Olympics programme. It was the only relay event on the schedule, and the first appearance of the 4 × 200 in Olympic competition. Each nation could enter 1 team of 4 swimmers.Official Report, p. 40.
Results
Semifinals
The fastest team in each semifinal and the fastest losing team from across the semifinals advanced to the final.
Semifinal 1
Place Nation Swimmers Time 1 Frank Beaurepaire Frank Springfield Reginald Baker Theodore Tartakover 11:35.0 2 Poul Holm Harald Klem Ludvig Dam Hjalmar Saxtorph 12:53.0
Semifinal 2
Place Nation Swimmers Time 1 William Foster Paul Radmilovic John Derbyshire Henry Taylor 10:53.4 WR 2 Harry Hebner Leo Goodwin Charles Daniels Leslie Rich 11:01.4 3 Gustaf Wretman Gunnar Wennerström Harald Julin Adolf Andersson Unknown
Semifinal 3
Hungary had no competition in the third semifinal.
Place Nation Swimmers Time 1 József Munk Imre Zachár Béla Las Torres Zoltán Halmay Swam over
Final
Hungary led throughout the race until Halmay veered towards the wall and was caught by Taylor (who had only just before passed Rich) in the final 20 yards. Halmay struggled to the finish line, and was hauled out of the pool before he drowned.
Place Nation Swimmers Time 1 John Derbyshire Paul Radmilovic William Foster Henry Taylor 10:55.6 2 József Munk Imre Zachár Béla las Torres Zoltán Halmay 10:59.0 3 Harry Hebner Leo Goodwin Charles Daniels Leslie Rich 11:02.8 4 Frank Beaurepaire Frank Springfield Reginald Baker Theodore Tartakover Unknown
Sources
References