Swimming at the 1908 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metre backstroke

Men's 100 metre backstroke at the Games of the IV Olympiad
Venue	White City Stadium
Dates	July 16 July 17
Competitors	21 from 11 nations
Medalists
Arno Bieberstein  Germany Ludvig Dam  Denmark Herbert Haresnape  Great Britain

Swimming at the 1908 Summer Olympics
Freestyle
100 m		men
400 m		men
1500 m		men
Backstroke
100 m		men
Breaststroke
200 m		men
Freestyle relay
4×200 m		men

The men's 100 metre backstroke was one of six swimming events on the swimming at the 1908 Summer Olympics programme. It was the only backstroke event on the schedule. It was the first appearance of the event, after a 100-yard event was held in 1904. The competition was held on Thursday July 16, 1908 and on Friday July 17, 1908.

Twenty-one swimmers from eleven nations competed.

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in minutes) prior to the 1908 Summer Olympics.

World Record	?	?
Olympic Record	1:16.8(*)	Walter Brack	St. Louis (USA)	September 6, 1904

(*) 100 yards (= 91.44 m)

In the first heat Arno Bieberstein set the first Olympic record with 1:25.6 minutes. In the first semi-final he equalized his time and in the final he bettered his own record with 1:24.6 minutes. The time set in the final was the first official world record for this distance.

Results

First round

Thursday July 16, 1908: The fastest swimmer in each heat and the fastest loser advanced, qualifying 8 swimmers for the semifinals.

Heat 1

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1	Arno Bieberstein (GER)	1:25.6	QQ OR
2	Frederick Unwin (GBR)	1:30.0
3	Hugo Jonsson (FIN)	Unknown

Heat 2

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1	Max Ritter (GER)	1:33.4	QQ
2	Sidney Willis (GBR)	1:34.4
3	John Henriksson (FIN)	Unknown

Heat 3

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1	Colin Lewis (GBR)	1:30.2	QQ
2	Bartholomeus Roodenburch (NED)	1:36.2
3	22x20px Robert Zimmerman (CAN)	Unknown

Heat 4

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1	Herbert Haresnape (GBR)	1:26.2	QQ
2	Ludvig Dam (DEN)	1:26.4	qq
3	Amilcare Beretta (ITA)	Unknown

Heat 5

Parvin had no competition in the fifth heat.

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1	Stanley Parvin (GBR)	1:35.2	QQ

Heat 6

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1	John Taylor (GBR)	1:25.8	QQ
2	Augustus Goessling (USA)	1:29.0
3	Gustaf Wretman (SWE)	Unknown
—	Oscar Grégoire (BEL)	Did not finish

Heat 7

Kugler started before the signal, causing him to be disqualified and his first-place finish nullified.

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1	Gustav Aurisch (GER)	1:27.4	QQ
2	Johan Cortlever (NED)	Unknown
3	Eric Seaward (GBR)	Unknown
—	Sándor Kugler (HUN)	(1:27.0)	DSQ

Semifinals

Thursday July 16, 1908: The fastest two swimmers from each semifinal advanced to the final.

Semifinal 1

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1	Arno Bieberstein (GER)	1:25.6	QF =OR
2	Ludvig Dam (DEN)	Unknown	QF
3	Max Ritter (GER)	Unknown
4	Stanley Parvin (GBR)	Unknown

Semifinal 2

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1	Gustav Aurisch (GER)	1:28.2	QF
2	Herbert Haresnape (GBR)	1:28.8	QF
3	John Taylor (GBR)	Unknown
4	Colin Lewis (GBR)	Unknown

Final

Friday July 17, 1908.

Place	Swimmer	Time
1	Arno Bieberstein (GER)	1:24.6 WR
2	Ludvig Dam (DEN)	1:26.6
3	Herbert Haresnape (GBR)	1:27.0
4	Gustav Aurisch (GER)	Unknown