The men's double York round was one of three archery events on the archery at the 1908 Summer Olympics programme. Arrows were shot in ends (or groups) of three. The archers shot a total of 288 arrows each, with 144 arrows in each of the two rounds. The competition was held on Friday, 17 July and Saturday, 18 July, with one round each day. The archers had to contend with significant rain and wind on the first day, and gusts of wind on the second.Official Report, pp. 100–01.
William Dod won the competition to best his sister Lottie Dod's result; she won the silver medal in the women's competition. Dod's victory was "pretty clear" by the end of the 80-yard portion of the second round, with him having established a significant lead with only 24 arrows left at 60 yards.Official Report, p. 101. The United States' only archer won a bronze medal in this competition, preventing Great Britain from sweeping this event as they did the women's competition. France swept the Continental-style event. Henry B. Richardson had the best single-round score of the competition (417 in the second round) but had been well behind the leaders after the first round.Official Report, p. 103. Despite starting the second day 50 points behind Reginald Brooks-King, Richardson nearly caught the other man for second place with 3 arrows remaining. (down only 1 point, 749 to 748) However, Brooks-King pulled away again on the last end, 19–12, for a "close and exciting finish." Ten French archers competed in the York round, though none finished higher than 16th place.
Twenty-seven archers from three nations competed. Five additional archers (4 from France, 1 from the United States) entered but did not start.Official Report, p. 105. NOCs were limited to 30 competitors each, though none came close to this maximum.Official Report, p. 33.
Background This was the second and final appearance of the event, which was previously held in 1904.
Dod was not favoured. Reginald Brooks-King had won five British national titles since 1900 (1900, 1902, 1903, 1906, and 1908) with John Penrose, John Bridges, Eyre Hussey (not competing at the London Games), and Hugh Nesham each taking one of the remaining four.
Competition format
Each round consisted of 72 arrows at , 48 arrows at , and 24 arrows at . Three arrows were shot per end. Each hit was worth 9, 7, 5, 3, or 1 point(s) depending on which ring was hit; an arrow touching two rings would count as hitting the higher value. Ties were broken, in order, by number of hits, by score at the longest range (100 yards), then by hits at the longest range.Official Report, pp. 413–14.
Schedule The double York round event was held on the first two days of the archery schedule, along with the women's double National round.
FFinal Event 17 July 18 July 19 July 20 JulyMen's double York round F Men's Continental style FWomen's double National round F
Results
Rank Archer Nation Score 815 768 760 4 709 5 687 6 652 7 647 8 643 9 622 10 543 11 532 12 530 13 516 14 476 15 430 16 425 17 418 18 413 19 410 20 385 21 374 22 347 23 280 24 241 25 215 26 191 27 36 ()
References
Sources Official Report of the Games of the IV Olympiad (1908). De Wael, Herman. Herman's Full Olympians: "Archery 1908". Accessed 8 April 2006. Available electronically at .