Final day of track events at Antwerp games
Antwerp, 23 August 1920 - Today was the last day of track events at the Olympic stadium in Antwerp.
The final of the men's 4 x 400 metre relay race took place with Great Britain securing the gold medal, while South Africa, which included the gold medal winner Bevil Rudd, took home silver and France took bronze. There was some confusion after the race and calls for it to be held again after it became clear that owing to a mistake by the officials the second leg started from the wrong mark, thus one of the British athletes ran 10 metres more than his proper length. However, it was decided not to rerun the race and the original result stood.
The men’s team cross-country race was also held. The Finnish team won gold, Great Britain won silver and Sweden won bronze. The British team included Irishman Anton Hegarty, who hails from Derry. Earlier in the day he came fifth in the individual cross-country race.
The men’s tennis competitions concluded today. South African Louis Raymond beat Japan’s Ichiya Kumagae to win the gold medal. The South African was playing at his best, while Kumagae did not seem as steady as usual and found the net too much with his low returns. Charles Winslow of South Africa took home the bronze medal.
Japan lost out to Great Britain in the men’s mixed doubles. While the French team secured the bronze medal.
The women’s competitions will conclude tomorrow.
[Editor's note: This is an article from Century Ireland, a fortnightly online newspaper, written from the perspective of a journalist 100 years ago, based on news reports of the time.]
