tug of war Tug of war (also known as tug o' war, tug war, rope war, rope pulling, or tugging war) is a sport that pits two teams against each other in a test of strength: teams pull on opposite ends of a rope, with the goal being to bring the rope a certa ...

competition was held August 31 and September 1 at Francis Field in

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

, Missouri, as part of the

1904 Summer Olympics The 1904 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the III Olympiad and also known as St. Louis 1904) were an international multi-sport event held in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, from 29 August to 3 September 1904, as part of an extended ...

. Thirty athletes participated from six teams across three countries, and six games were played. Four

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

teams took the top four places, followed by

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

and South African teams unplaced.

Background

Tug of war Tug of war (also known as tug o' war, tug war, rope war, rope pulling, or tugging war) is a sport that pits two teams against each other in a test of strength: teams pull on opposite ends of a rope, with the goal being to bring the rope a certa ...

was first held during the 1900 Olympics, when it was won by a mixed team from Scandinavia, featuring three Danish and three Swedish athletes. For the 1904 games in

, six teams entered. Four of the teams were representing the host nation, the United States, while there were also teams from Greece and South Africa. For the United States, the Milwaukee Athletic Club entered a team, the Southwest Turnverein of St. Louis entered two teams, and the

New York Athletic Club The New York Athletic Club is a private social club and athletic club in New York (state), New York state. Founded in 1868, the club has approximately 8,600 members and two facilities: the City House, located at 180 Central Park South in Manha ...

were the final entrant. A team from the Pan-Hellenic Athletic Club represented Greece, while South Africa was represented by the Boer Team. The contests were held on turf ground with no shoes on, over a period of five minutes. If within that five minutes, a team succeeded in pulling the other team across a line from their starting position, they were deemed to win. Otherwise, the team that had pulled their opponents closest to the line after five minutes would be the winner. Three local judges were selected to officiate in the competition; Clark Hetherington of the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus University of Missouri System. MU was founded in ...

, and John Meyers and Myles McDonough, both of St. Louis.

Results

August 30 was the first day of the tug of war competition. The two quarterfinal matches and the first semifinal match (between the two teams who had had byes in the quarterfinals) were held. The rest of the competition was conducted on 1 September.

Quarterfinals

Losers were eliminated.

Semifinals

The losers were sent to the repechage, to play each other for the chance to play the loser of the final for second place.

Final

The winner received the gold medal, while the loser had to play the winner of the repechage in the silver medal match.

Silver medal semifinal

The winner of this match played the loser of the final for the silver medal.

Silver medal match

The New York team did not appear for the silver medal match, resulting in the silver medal being awarded to the Saint Louis No. 1 team.

Bronze medal match

The New York team also did not appear for the bronze medal match, resulting in the bronze medal being awarded to Saint Louis No. 2.

Final standings

Participating nations

6 teams of 5, for a total of 30 athletes, competed. The host team had four teams, and two other nations each sent one. * * *

Rosters

; Milwaukee Athletic Club Patrick Flanagan
Sidney Johnson
Oscar Olson
Conrad Magnusson
Henry Seiling ; Southwest Turnverein of St. Louis No. 1 Max Braun
August Rodenberg
Charles Rose
William Seiling
Orrin Upshaw ; Southwest Turnverein of St. Louis No. 2 Oscar Friede
Charles Haberkorn
Harry Jacobs

Frank Kugler Frank X. Kugler (March 29, 1879, Germany – July 7, 1952, St. Louis, Missouri) was a German-American wrestler, weightlifter and tug of war competitor who competed in the 1904 Summer Olympics The 1904 Summer Olympics (officiall ...

(GER)
Charles Thias ; New York Athletic Club Charles Chadwick
Charles Dieges
Lawrence Feuerbach
Sam Jones
Jim Mitchel ; Boer Team Pieter Hillense
Pieter Lombard
Johannes Schutte
Paulus Visser
Christopher Walker ; Pan-Hellenic Athletic Club Dimitrios Dimitrakopoulos

Nikolaos Georgantas Nikolaos Georgantas ( el, Νικόλαος Γεωργαντάς, February 27, 1880 ( OS)/March 12, 1880 ( NS) – November 23, 1958) was a Greek athlete who competed mainly in the discus throw. Biography He was born in Steno, Arcadia. He comp ...

Anastasios Georgopoulos
Periklis Kakousis
Vasilios Metalos

Medal table

References

Sources

* * *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tug Of War At The 1904 Summer Olympics 1904 Summer Olympics events 1904s 1904 in tug of war