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| Event type

10 kilometres Race Walk, Men

Date8 – 11 July 1912
StatusOlympic
LocationStockholms Olympiastadion, Stockholm
Participants23 from 11 countries

The 10 kilometre walk appeared on the Olympic program for the first time in 1912, although it would be an Olympic event in 1912-1924, and 1948-52. The pre-Olympic favorites were both British - George Larner who had won both walks at the 1908 Olympics, and had won the AAA 7-mile walk in 1911, and Ernie Webb who had won the AAA 7-mile walk in 1908-1910, and was the silver medalist in both walks at the 1908 Olympics. The world best in 1912 was 45:43.5 set by Paul Gunia (GER) in Berlin on 24 October 1908. For unknown reasons, neither Larner nor Gunia competed and in their absence, Webb was expected to win easily.

But Webb could not match Canada’s George Goulding, who had also competed at the 1908 Olympics. At London, Goulding had placed 4th in the 3,500 metre walk, did not finish in his heat of the 10 mile walk, and also ran the marathon, finishing 22nd. However, since 1908, Goulding had greatly improved and had beaten Webb at match races in Toronto in the summer of 1910. After winning the gold medal, Goulding’s first act was to send a telegram to his wife. It read only, “Won - George.”

But Goulding spoke more of the final, as given in Henry Roxborough’s Canada at the Olympics, “In the final, I took the lead right from the start. When I was about 40 yards ahead of Webb, I thought the judges were after me. One of them said something in Swedish which I didn’t understand; but when I turned toward him I saw a broad grin on his face and concluded he must have said something nice. Still, it was a ticklish moment, for the judges had the right to pull anyone off the track without previous warnings. With other judges, I could have improved my time; but during the last mile, when I had a lead of about 75 yards, I slowed considerably and took no chance of being disqualified. Besides, in the first heat, I had rubbed the skin off my toes, while wearing almost new shoes; and in the final my feet were really torturing. However, in winning, I soon forgot the pain and remembered only the pleasure.”

PosNrWalkerNOC
1George GouldingCANORGold
2Ernie WebbGBRSilver
3Nando AltimaniITABronze
4Aage RasmussenDEN
ACVilhelm GylcheDEN
ACBill PalmerGBR
ACThomas DumbillGBR
ACWilliam YatesGBR
ACArthur St. NormanRSA
ACFrederick KaiserUSA
6 h1 r1/2Sam SchwartzUSA
6 h2 r1/2Alfred VoellmekeUSA
7 h1 r1/2Edward RenzUSA
7 h2 r1/2Rolando SalinasCHI
8 h2 r1/2Henrik Ripszám, Jr.HUN
9 h2 r1/2Aleksis AideRUS
AC h1 r1/2Rudolf RichterBOH
AC h1 r1/2Karl LukkRUS
AC h2 r1/2Eduard HermannRUS
AC h2 r1/2William MurrayANZ
AC h2 r1/2Niels PedersenDEN
AC h2 r1/2Bobby BridgeGBR
AC h2 r1/2István DrubinaHUN
DNSWalery JaworskiAUT
DNSPéter SzablárHUN
DNSJohn KarlsenUSA
DNSGeorge MortonUSA
DNSPeter PaxiánHUN
DNSMario VitaliITA
DNSJános PatakHUN
DNSTommy HammondGBR
DNSMihály FeketeHUN
DNSLouis ScottUSA

Round One (8 July 1912 — 9:30)

Top five in each heat advanced to the final.

Heat One

PosWalkerNOCTime
1George GouldingCAN47:14.5QOR
2Ernie WebbGBR47:25.4Q
3Aage RasmussenDEN48:15.8Q
4Nando AltimaniITA48:54.2Q
5Bill PalmerGBR51:21.0Q
6Sam SchwartzUSA53:30.8
7Edward RenzUSA53:30.8
DNFRudolf RichterBOH
DNFKarl LukkRUS
DNFEduard HermannRUS

Heat Two

PosWalkerNOCTime
1William YatesGBR49:43.6Q
2Arthur St. NormanRSA50:17.9Q
3Thomas DumbillGBR50:57.6Q
4Vilhelm GylcheDEN51:13.8Q
5Frederick KaiserUSA51:31.8Q
6Alfred VoellmekeUSA52:29.2
7Rolando SalinasCHI55:02.0
8Henrik Ripszám, Jr.HUN55:20.6
9Aleksis AideRUS59:24.2
DQNiels PedersenDEN
DQBobby BridgeGBR
DQWilliam MurrayANZ
DQIstván DrubinaHUN

Final (11 July 1912 — 11:15)

PosWalkerNOCTime
1George GouldingCAN46:28.4OR
2Ernie WebbGBR46:50.4
3Nando AltimaniITA47:37.6
4Aage RasmussenDEN48:00.0
DNFVilhelm GylcheDEN
DNFBill PalmerGBR
DNFFrederick KaiserUSA
DQArthur St. NormanRSA
DQThomas DumbillGBR
DQWilliam YatesGBR