Swimming at the 1908 Summer Olympics – Men's 400 metre freestyle

Men's 400 metre freestyle at the Games of the IV Olympiad
Venue	White City Stadium
Dates	July 13–16
Competitors	25 from 10 nations
Medalists
Henry Taylor  Great Britain Frank Beaurepaire  Australasia Otto Scheff  Austria

Swimming at the 1908 Summer Olympics
Freestyle
100 m		men
400 m		men
1500 m		men
Backstroke
100 m		men
Breaststroke
200 m		men
Freestyle relay
4×200 m		men

The men's 400 metre freestyle was one of six swimming events on the swimming at the 1908 Summer Olympics programme. Its distance was the median of the 3 individual freestyle event distances. It was the first time an event over 400 metres was held at the Olympics (after a 440-yard contest was held in 1904). The competition was held from Monday July 13, 1908 to Thursday July 16, 1908.

Twenty-five swimmers from ten nations competed.

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in minutes) prior to the 1908 Summer Olympics.

World Record	?	?
Olympic Record	6:16.2(*)	Charles Daniels	St. Louis (USA)	September 7, 1904

(*) 440 yards (= 402.34 m)

In the final Henry Taylor set the first official world record for this distance in 5:36.8 minutes.

Results

First round

The fastest swimmer in each heat and the fastest loser advanced, qualifying 10 swimmers for the semifinals.

Heat 1

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1	Thomas Battersby (GBR)	5:48.8	QS
2	Béla Las-Torres (HUN)	5:52.2	qs
3	Leo Goodwin (USA)	Unknown
4	Vilhelm Andersson (SWE)	Unknown
—	Henri Decoin (FRA)	Did not finish

Heat 2

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1	William Foster (GBR)	5:54.8	QS
2	Robert Andersson (SWE)	6:28.0

Heat 3

Tartakover had no competition in the third heat.

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1	Theodore Tartakover (ANZ)	6:35.0	QS

Heat 4

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1	Frank Beaurepaire (ANZ)	5:49.2	QS
2	Sam Blatherwick (GBR)	6:16.8
3	Conrad Trubenbach (USA)	Unknown
—	Davide Baiardo (ITA)	Did not finish

Heat 5

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1	Paul Radmilovic (GBR)	6:10.0	QS
2	Aage Holm (DEN)	8:08.8

Heat 6

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1	Henry Taylor (GBR)	5:42.2	QS
2	Frank Springfield (ANZ)	5:57.4
3	Mario Massa (ITA)	Unknown

Heat 7

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1	Otto Scheff (AUT)	5:51.0	QS
2	William Haynes (GBR)	6:21.2
3	József Ónody (HUN)	Unknown
4-5	Frits Meuring (NED)	Unknown
	Hjalmar Saxtorph (DEN)	Unknown

Heat 8

Zachár had no competition in the eighth heat.

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1	Imre Zachár (HUN)	6:09.8	QS

Heat 9

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1	Henrik Hajós (HUN)	6:19.8	QS
2	Arthur Sharp (GBR)	7:00.4

Semifinals

The fastest two swimmers from each semifinal advanced to the final.

Semifinal 1

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1	Otto Scheff (AUT)	5:40.6	QF
2	Henry Taylor (GBR)	5:41.0	QF
3	Thomas Battersby (GBR)	Unknown
4	Béla Las-Torres (HUN)	Unknown
5	Henrik Hajós (HUN)	Unknown

Semifinal 2

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1	Frank Beaurepaire (ANZ)	5:44.0	QF
2	William Foster (GBR)	5:52.2	QF
3	Paul Radmilovic (GBR)	Unknown
—	Imre Zachár (HUN)	Did not finish
—	Theodore Tartakover (ANZ)	Did not start

Final

Place	Swimmer	Time
1	Henry Taylor (GBR)	5:36.8
2	Frank Beaurepaire (ANZ)	5:44.2
3	Otto Scheff (AUT)	5:46.0
4	William Foster (GBR)	Unknown