Pentathlon, Men

Eero Lehtonen defended his gold medal in this event, although he entered the final event, 1,500 metres, only one place ahead of Hungary’s Elemér Somfay. Lehtonen won the 1,500, Somfay second, to secure his gold medal. All his life Somfay believed that he had won the pentathlon in 1924. This was due to the fact that he believed he ran the 200 m in 22.8 seconds, which would have been enough to win. He protested with a written confirmation from one of the timekeepers, but the president of the Hungarian NOC was not interested in investigating the matter, and the protest was denied. According to his last will “Elemér Somfay Olympic Champion” was carved on his tomb. In the long jump section of the event, Bob LeGendre jumped 7.765 (25-5¼) for a world record. Had the event been scored by points tables, LeGendre would have won, but he placed only ninth in the javelin, which pushed him back to third place.