Frances Heldt – The Controversial 1908 London Olympics

Originally posted to the TR Center blog on August 7, 2021.

Only the fourth Olympics held in the modern era, the 1908 games in London experienced what could be called growing pains as the Olympic enterprise lurched closer to the standard format we are familiar with today. The London games were remarkable for a number of reasons. It was the longest Olympics on record, running from April to October, it was the first games to award gold, silver, and bronze medals, and for the first time, athletes had to compete as members of a national team rather than individually. The 1908 Olympics also had its fair share of controversies. One event in particular sparked an international altercation between the United States and Great Britain, despite President Roosevelt’s best efforts.

It all started with the 400-meter dash. Americans John Carpenter, John Taylor, and William Robbins, and Englishman Wyndham Halswelle, competed in the final race of the 400-meter event. After Carpenter had won the race, British umpire Roscoe Badger called a foul. He claimed that Carpenter had won by willfully blocking Wyndham Halswelle. The British judges agreed and declared the race void, scheduling a re-run for the following day. While blocking maneuvers were acceptable at the time in American racing rules, they were prohibited under the British rules that the Olympic Committee had agreed to adhere to for the London games. John Carpenter was disqualified from the competition. Taylor and Robbins, who were still eligible to run, declined to participate in the re-do in solidarity with their teammate. Halswelle ran the 400 meters alone, receiving the gold medal by default. It is the only final in Olympic history that was decided by a walkover, meaning a contestant is awarded a victory because there are no other contestants to challenge them. 

The incident sparked outrage among American athletes and commentators on both sides of the Atlantic. President Roosevelt desperately tried to calm the waters and avoid growing bitterness between the Americans and the British. While he might have personally believed that the British judges treated John Carpenter unfairly, he recognized his position as a leader and consciously chose to take the higher ground: 

The action of the judges and the crowd…seems to have shown a very violent and malignant spirit. On the other hand, I think that the Americans by the protest they made in the papers and by their bitter complaints of English unfairness behaved as badly themselves. Carpenter alone behaved well, for he has never said anything excepting that he does not remember having touched his competitor and that he thinks that there ought to be no more talk about it. (Excerpt, letter from Theodore Roosevelt to George C. Buell, August 18, 1908)

Seeing the diplomatic storm clouds brewing, Roosevelt believed the best course of action was to let the matter die by encouraging no one to speak of it again.

Unfortunately for Roosevelt, the American newspapers ran amuck with the controversy and willingly sensationalized it, adding fire to the flames and casting Britain as the “bad guys.” One common line was to assert that British Olympic officials made efforts to slight the entire American team, such as by excluding the American athletes from social events. Another piece of newspaper-fed conspiracy was that British officials specifically omitted the American flag from the row of national flags in the Olympic stadium. This letter from Whitelaw Reid to Theodore Roosevelt dated September 8, 1908, further details diplomacy efforts to control the tension. 

Anger at the situation was not monopolized by the Americans. The British critic Theodore Andrea Cook, author of the official report of the London games warned Roosevelt that “if some of the incidents that occurred in our Games are not forgotten, it is not likely that American athletes will be welcomed again on English tracks.” (Excerpt, letter from Theodore Andrea Cook to Theodore Roosevelt, September 8, 1908).

By November of that year, a month after the games had ended, the British Embassy in Washington, D.C., released an official statement on the Olympic controversy, a move for which British Ambassador James Bryce received a harsh chastisement from President Roosevelt:

Absolutely no good whatever comes, or can come, from any action by any official of either the British or American Government in this matter. On the contrary, harm has come already from the publication made by the British Embassy, and further harm will come if either the American or the British Government takes any part whatsoever in this exceedingly unfortunate affair. Moreover, such action gives it an entirely unwarranted importance. I thoroly believe in athletics, but it is absurd to attach to them such portentous importance as would warrant the interference of the governments of the two countries to settle whether an American fouled an Englishman in the four hundred metre race…” (Excerpt, letter from Theodore Roosevelt to James Bryce, November 25, 1908).

The British Embassy’s statement, construed to be an official action by the British government, caused the American Amateur Athletic Union to call for the American government to issue an official reply in kind. Roosevelt vehemently refused. He firmly told James E. Sullivan, president of the American Amateur Athletic Union, “I must not be brought in any way into the affair”. The president’s cool-headedness throughout the controversy, and his determination to remain publicly uninvolved, likely helped to avoid a more enduring breakdown of relations between the United States and Great Britain. 

Roosevelt’s diplomatic headache aside, the issues brought up by the 400-meter debacle had a positive impact on future Olympic games. After 1908, lanes were introduced to track races to discourage runner interference. Judges and referees would henceforth be selected from an international pool rather than provided by the host country. Finally, the incident played a part in the founding of the International Amateur Athletic Federation in 1912, which sought to standardize rules for international athletic competitions.