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Diving at the 1908 Summer Olympics – Men's 3 metre springboard

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Men's springboard diving
at the Games of the IV Olympiad
VenueWhite City Stadium
Dates14–18 July
Competitors23 from 8 nations
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Albert Zürner  Germany
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Kurt Behrens  Germany
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) George Gaidzik  United States
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Gottlob Walz  Germany
1912 →

The men's 3 metre springboard, also known as the fancy diving competition, was one of two diving events on the Diving at the 1908 Summer Olympics programme, along with the men's 10 metre platform. The competition was held on Tuesday 14 and Saturday 18 July 1908. Twenty-three divers from eight nations competed. Each nation could enter up to 12 divers.[1][2]

Competition format

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The competition was actually held from both 3 metre and 1 metre boards. Divers performed a running plain dive and a running forward somersault from the 1 metre board, a one-and-a-half somersault and a backward spring and forward dive from the 3 metre board, and three (different) dives of the competitor's choice from the 3 metre board.[3] The voluntary dives were selected from a list of 20 options, most of which could be done from either a standing or running start.[4]

Each judge gave a score between 0 and 10 points, in increments of half a point, for each dive. Points were then added to voluntary dives based on degree of difficulty (difficulty points ranged from 1 to 10 per dive). No difficulty points were awarded for the compulsory dives. The dive scores from each judge were summed and divided by 3, with the three judges' results added to give a final score. However, the final scores were not technically determinative (except as tie-breakers); after the scores were calculated, each judge ranked the competitors (and could choose to follow the scores or not) and the competition was decided on a point-for-place system with the competitor with the lowest total ranking from the three judges winning. Final scores were used as tie-breakers if this aggregate ranking was tied.[5] In no case was the point-for-place result different for any round from the final scores, however, and ties in final scores led to an extra diver advancing to the semifinals as well as two bronze medals being awarded; the Official Report contains only the final scores and not the ordinal rankings from the judges.[6] Indeed, it appears that "the ordinal scores are not recorded in any source" and "the individual judges' scores are not known, so it is not possible to reconstruct the ordinal placements."[7]

The competition was held over three rounds (first round, semifinals, and final). The first round consisted of 5 groups of between 3 and 6 divers each; the top 2 divers in each group advanced to the semifinals. The semifinals consisted of 2 groups, one of 5 divers and one of 6 divers (due to a tie in the first round resulting in an additional diver advancing). The top 2 divers in each group advanced to the final. The final featured 4 divers.

Results

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First round

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The two divers who scored the greatest number of points in each group of the first round advanced to the semifinals. A tie in the third group for second place resulted in both divers joining the group winner in advancing, for a total of 11 divers in the semifinals.

Group 1

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Rank Diver Nation Score Notes
1 George Gaidzik  United States 82.8 Q
2 Heinz Freyschmidt  Germany 78.1 Q
3 Robert Zimmerman  Canada 74.0
4 Harry Crank  Great Britain 70.3
5 Alexander Beckett  Great Britain 67.5

Group 2

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Rank Diver Nation Score Notes
1 Albert Zürner  Germany 83.6 Q
2 Harold Clarke  Great Britain 78.6 Q
3 Albert Taylor  Great Britain 58.8

Group 3

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Rank Diver Nation Score Notes
1 Kurt Behrens  Germany 83.6 Q
2 Ralph Errington  Great Britain 70.83 Q
Oskar Wetzell  Finland 70.83 Q
4 Karl Malmström  Sweden 70.3
5 William Hoare  Great Britain 67.8

Group 4

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Rank Diver Nation Score Notes
1 Herbert Pott  Great Britain 82.5 Q
2 Fritz Nicolai  Germany 67.1 Q
3 William Bull  Great Britain 66.0
4 Carlo Bonfanti  Italy 65.8
5 Sigfrid Larsson  Sweden 64.5
6 Reginald Baker  Australasia 61.3

Group 5

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Rank Diver Nation Score Notes
1 Gottlob Walz  Germany 81.3 Q
2 Henry Grote  United States 79.5 Q
3 Harold Smyrk  Great Britain 78.3
4 Charles Cross  Great Britain 64.5

Semifinals

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The two divers from each semifinal with the highest scores advanced to the final.

Semifinal 1

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Rank Diver Nation Score Notes
1 Kurt Behrens  Germany 83.0 Q
2 Gottlob Walz  Germany 80.3 Q
3 Herbert Pott  Great Britain 79.6
4 Heinz Freyschmidt  Germany 79.3
5 Ralph Errington  Great Britain 72.6
6 Oskar Wetzell  Finland 70.1

Semifinal 2

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Rank Diver Nation Score Notes
1 George Gaidzik  United States 85.6 Q
2 Albert Zürner  Germany 82.8 Q
3 Fritz Nicolai  Germany 81.8
4 Harold Clarke  Great Britain 81.1
5 Henry Grote  United States 74.5

Final

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A tie for third place resulted in both divers receiving bronze medals.

Rank Diver Nation Score
1st place, gold medalist(s) Albert Zürner  Germany 85.5
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Kurt Behrens  Germany 85.3
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) George Gaidzik  United States 80.8
Gottlob Walz  Germany 80.8

References

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  1. ^ Official Report, p. 40.
  2. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Diving at the 1908 London Summer Games: Men's Springboard". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
  3. ^ Official Report, p. 575.
  4. ^ Official Report, p. 586.
  5. ^ Official Report, pp. 575–76.
  6. ^ Official Report, p. 306.
  7. ^ Sports-reference

Sources

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  • Cook, Theodore Andrea (1908). The Fourth Olympiad, Being the Official Report. London: British Olympic Association.
  • De Wael, Herman (2001). "Diving 1908". Herman's Full Olympians. Archived from the original on 4 June 2011. Retrieved 21 May 2006.