At the 1908 Summer Olympics, a tug of war tournament was contested. Each team consisted of 8 athletes. Nations could enter up to 3 teams.Official Report, p. 32. The host Great Britain was the only one to enter more than one (entering the maximum of 3 teams). Germany, Greece, Sweden, and the United States each entered one team apiece, though Germany and Greece withdrew. This left 5 teams (40 athletes) from 3 nations to compete.
Medal table
Position Country Gold Silver Bronze Total 1 1 1 1 3 — 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Medal summary
Gold Silver Bronze
Team rosters Great Britain City of London Police
Edward Barrett Frederick Goodfellow Frederick Humphreys William Hirons Albert Ireton Frederick Merriman Edwin Mills John James Shepherd
Liverpool Police
Charles Foden (captain) James Clarke Thomas Butler William Greggan Alexander Kidd Daniel McDonald Lowey Patrick Philbin George Smith Thomas Swindlehurst
Metropolitan Police "K" Division
Walter Chaffe Joseph Dowler Ernest Ebbage Thomas Homewood Alexander Munro William Slade Walter Tammas James Woodget
Sweden
Albrekt Almqwist Frans Fast Carl-Emil Johansson Emil Johansson Knut Johansson Karl Krook Karl-Gustaf Nilsson Anders Wollgarth
United States
Wilbur Burroughs Wesley Coe Arthur Dearborn John Flanagan Bill Horr Matt McGrath Ralph Rose Lee Talbott
Results Quarterfinals The German and Greek teams withdrew, narrowing the seven-team field to five. Thus, the Swedish team and two of the British squads had byes in the quarterfinals.
The only match held was between the Liverpool team and the Americans. Liverpool won the first pull easily, after which the United States delegation protested against the footwear worn by the Liverpool police, who competed in their service boots. The protest was dismissed, and the Americans withdrew in disgust.Cook, p. 91City of London Police
Winners Score Losers Liverpool Police 2-0 (forfeit) United States of America Sweden — Bye City of London Police — Bye Metropolitan Police "K" Division — Bye
Semifinals
Liverpool again faced a foreign opponent, and again prevailed. The two London services squared off in the other semifinal, with the City police beating the Metropolitan men in a lengthy first pull. The second pull was not as tight a contest.
Winners Score Losers Liverpool Police 2-0 Sweden City of London Police 2-0 Metropolitan Police "K" Division
Final
The Londoners defeated Liverpool in the final, winning the first two pulls.
Winners Score Losers City of London Police 2-0 Liverpool Police
Bronze medal match The Swedish team did not appear for the bronze medal match.
Winners Score Losers Metropolitan Police "K" (Stepney) Division walkover Sweden
Notes
Sources
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