Australasia at the 1908 Summer Olympics

Australasia at the 1908 Summer Olympics
Australasian Olympic Flag
IOC code	ANZ
in London
Competitors	30 in 6 sports
Flag bearer	Henry St Aubyn Murray
Medals Ranked 11th	Gold 1 Silver 2 Bronze 2 Total 5
Summer Olympics appearances (overview)
1908 1912
Other related appearances
Australia (1896–1904, 1920–)  New Zealand (1920–)

Australasia was the name of a combined team from Australia and New Zealand that competed at the 1908 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom. It was the fourth appearance of Australia, which had not missed any edition of the Summer Olympic Games, and the first appearance of New Zealand. The two would compete together again as Australasia at the 1912 Summer Olympics before competing separately at every edition of the Summer Games since. In 1908 there were three New Zealanders, Harry Kerr, Henry Murray and Albert Rowland (a fourth New Zealander, hurdler Arthur Halligan, competed for Great Britain);^[1] all other competitors were Australian. There were 30 competitors for Australasia who competed in 20 events in six sports.^[2] A further two competitors, who were to compete in tennis, did not play as their nominations failed to reach the organisers.

Medallists[]

Medal	Name	Sport	Event	Date
Gold	Australia national rugby union team John Barnett Phil Carmichael Daniel Carroll Bob Craig Thomas Griffen Jack Hickey Malcolm McArthur Arthur McCabe Patrick McCue Chris McKivat Charles McMurtrie Sydney Middleton Tom Richards Charles Russell Frank Smith	Rugby union		October 26
Silver	Snowy Baker (AUS)	Boxing	Middleweight	October 27
Silver	Frank Beaurepaire (AUS)	Swimming	Men's 400 m freestyle	July 16
Bronze	Harry Kerr (NZL)	Athletics	Men's 3500 m walk	July 14
Bronze	Frank Beaurepaire (AUS)	Swimming	Men's 1500 m freestyle	July 25

Results by event[]

This list is incomplete; you can help by . (August 2008)

Athletics[]

Australasia's best athletics result, and only medal, was Harry Kerr's bronze medal in the 3500 metre walk.

Boxing[]

Australasia had one boxer in 1908, the middleweight Snowy Baker. He took the silver medal, and was the only non-British boxer to win a bout.

Diving[]

Baker, the silver medal-winning middleweight boxer, also dove in the springboard event, placing 22nd of 23 overall.

Rugby[]

Australasia won the only rugby union match played in 1908 against Great Britain, earning the gold medal. The Australasian representative was the Australia national team.

1908 Olympic Gold Final: Australasia v Great Britain

Shooting[]

Swimming[]

Tennis[]

Les Poidevin and Anthony Wilding (who were partners in the 1906 Davis Cup preliminary round at Newport) were nominated for the Australasian team by the Australasian Lawn Tennis Association, but their nominations failed to reach the organisers. So the pair watched the "small, impoverished and out of place" Australasian contingent alongside the "tailored splendour" of some European teams. Although many leading tennis players bypassed the Olympic tournament (which followed almost immediately after Wimbledon) and his goal had been Wimbledon, Wilding regretted the missed opportunity and endorsed his mother's summing up of the administrative bungling: "seems very careless of them & very annoying".^[3]

References[]

External links[]

• Cover of 1908 programme

Sources[]

• Cook, Theodore Andrea (1908). The Fourth Olympiad, Being the Official Report. London: British Olympic Association.
• De Wael, Herman (2001). "Top London 1908 Olympians". Herman's Full Olympians. Archived from the original on 12 July 2006. Retrieved 7 June 2006.