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Tandem Sprint, 2,000 metres, Men

Date23 – 24 April 1906
StatusIntercalated
LocationPodilatodromio Neou Falirou, Peiraias
Participants12 from 4 countries

The final of this event was delayed until the next day because of darkness. The program had fallen well behind schedule and the British team of Johnnie Matthews and Arthur Rushen objected to riding in the twilight. The result was a major upset, as the German team of brothers Bruno and Max Götze were considered the favorites, and John Matthews and Arthur Rushen had never raced together on a tandem until 1906. They had not previously won any national championships and it was only on their return to Athens that they won the National Cycling Union (NCU) tandem title, the only national championship ever won by either of them. After the Athens Olympics they also set several British records. They both later competed in the tandem event at the 1908 Olympics, but no longer as teammates. Matthews teamed up with the greatest British cyclist of the era, Leon Meredith, and Rushen joined up with John Barnard, who later married Matthews’ sister. In 1908 neither pairing reached the Olympic final.

PosCompetitor(s)NOC
1Great BritainGBRORGold
Johnnie MatthewsArthur Rushen
2GermanyGERSilver
Bruno GoetzeMax Goetze
3GermanyGERBronze
Karl ArnoldOtto Küpferling
2 h1 r1/2AustriaAUT
Alois WutteOtto Meixner
3 h1 r1/2GreeceGRE
Ioannis AvelasNikolaos Mavrogenis
3 h2 r1/2GreeceGRE
Konstantinos TzortzakisAristidis Almpanopoulos

Round One (23 April 1906)

Winner of each heat and runner-up in the fastest heat to the final.

Heat One

PosCompetitor(s)NOCTimeMargin
1GermanyGER2:54 1/5QOR
Karl ArnoldOtto Küpferling
2AustriaAUT
Alois WutteOtto Meixner
3GreeceGRE
Ioannis AvelasNikolaos Mavrogenis

Heat Two

PosCompetitor(s)NOCTimeMargin
1Great BritainGBR2:32 3/5QOR
Johnnie MatthewsArthur Rushen
2GermanyGERq
Bruno GoetzeMax Goetze
3GreeceGRE
Konstantinos TzortzakisAristidis Almpanopoulos

Final Round (24 April 1906)

Match 1/2

PosCompetitor(s)NOCTimeMargin
1Great BritainGBR2:15OR
Johnnie MatthewsArthur Rushen
2GermanyGERat 20 yards
Bruno GoetzeMax Goetze
3GermanyGER
Karl ArnoldOtto Küpferling