400 metres Hurdles, Men

In this event, Harry Hillman led from start to finish, and had the race well in hand until the eighth hurdle. He hit that hurdle very hard, almost falling, and Frank Waller caught him at the ninth hurdle. Somehow, Hillman regained his momentum and took the run-in by two yards. In third place, George Poage won what is usually described as the first Olympic medal ever won by a black man. In 1900, a black man had competed in the tug-of-war for France, winning a silver medal. However, Poage’s bronze was the first individual Olympic medal won by a Black athlete.

Hillman’s time could not qualify as a world record for two reasons: 1) he knocked over a hurdle, which in those days invalidated hurdle marks for record purposes; and 2) the hurdles used were only 2-6 (76.2 cm) high, as opposed to the event standard of 3-0 feet (91.4 cm).