Single Sculls, Men

This was probably the first great international sculling competition. Both the finalists, Harry Blackstaffe and Alexander McCulloch, were champions of the Diamond Challenge Sculls at Henley - Blackstaffe winning in 1906 and McCulloch holding the title in 1908. One of the first round losers, Lou Scholes, was the top Canadian sculler and had won the Diamond Sculls in 1904. The only top scullers not present were Britain’s Fred Kelly, Henley Diamond champion in 1902-03 and 1905, but now retired as a sculler (he competed in the eights at 1908 Olympics), and America’s Frank Greer, U.S. champion in 1903-05 and 1908 and the 1904 Olympic champion.

In the qualifying rounds, Blackstaffe and McCulloch were not challenged at all. In the final, McCulloch, starting out of Bucks Station, took the early lead, but started by pulling fewer strokes than Blackstaffe. McCulloch opened up as much as 1 lengths and led through 1,200 yards before being caught by Blackstaffe. Shortly after 1 mile though, Blackstaffe had pulled ahead by 3/4 of a length, and McCulloch could not close the gap.

The silver and bronze medalists listed below are controversial. It seems likely that only gold medals, and no silver or bronze medals, were given. The rules, as given in the 1908 Official Report (p. 528), note, “The Winners or Winner of the events will each receive the British Olympic Council’s Gold Medal for the Olympic Games of 1908.” And on another page of the 1908 Official Report (p. 37), one finds under Rowing, “Prizes: - Gold Olympic Medals to the winners in each Event.” There is no mention of silver or bronze medals in either place. In the results section of the 1908 Official Report (p. 358). the four rowing events are listed, with only the winners listed under gold medals. No silver or bronze medal placements are listed.

Because of the set-up of the Henley course, only two crews or sculls competed at any one time. Thus the semi-finals and finals consisted of only two crews or single scullers. Certainly the losing finalist would seem to be considered the “silver medalist” although we do not know if those rowers actually received such a medal. In addition, it would seem natural, and consistent with other Olympic sports with head-to-head formats, such as boxing and tennis, to consider the losing semi-finalists as “bronze medalists.”

Olympic statisticians vary on the listing of these results. Erich Kamper, in Encyclopaedia of the Olympic Games, listed the losing semi-finalists in the single sculls and eights as finishing third, but he did not list the losing semi-finalists that way in the coxed pairs or coxed fours. Both Volker Kluge (Die Olympischen Spiele von 1896 bis 1980) and David Wallechinsky (The Complete Book of the Summer Olympics) consider all the losing semi-finalists as finishing in 3rd place. But in his more recent book, Olympische Sommerspiele: Die Chronik I, Kluge did not describe the losing semi-finalists as bronze medalists.

However, in keeping with our Guidelines (see Updates–>Guidelines), we have considered the losing finalists as silver medalists (2nd place) and both the losing semi-finalists as bronze medalists (3rd place). In those guidelines we note, “we consider all participants being placed first, second or third in the final standings to have received gold, silver or bronze medals respectively.”