1912 Olympic Games Official Report Part 2

PLAIN AND VARIETY DIVING COMBINED.First Round.Friday, 12 July.Heat 1: HJALMAR JOHANSSON, Sweden, pl. 9, p. 68.06. 2. ALBERT ZÜRNER,Germany, pl. 14, p. 65.04. 3. Hans Luber, Germany, pl. 23, p. 61.66. 4. GöstaSjöberg, Sweden, pl. 24, p. 62.08. 5. Ernst Magnus Brandsten, Sweden, pl. 24, p.61.42. 6. George W. Gaidzick, U. S. A., pl. 25, p. 62.56. 7. John Jansson, Sweden,pl. 27, p. 59.75. 8. Kurt Behrens, Germany, p. 33, p. 58.35. 9. Leo Olavi Suni,Finland, pl. 45, p. 48.93. Although this was the heat that, beforehand, everybodyhad expected would be the most hotly contested, no one dived in first class style.Gaidzick (U. S. A.) dived best, and would probably had won the heat if he hadexecuted his flying somersault in accordance with the rules. In the programmehe had chosen ordinary somersault and flying somersault, but he executedboth of the dives in much the same way. Three of the judges considered thatthere was no principial difference between his two dives, and as the rules prescribethat the voluntary dives must be of a different nature, they gave him o forhis flying somersault. Two of the judges accepted the dive, however, and oneof these judges placed Gaidzick first, while the other placed him second onthe list. Hjalmar Johansson, who had been the victor at the Olympic Games ofLondon in 1908, had no good day, but his confident style put him first in the heat.Brandsten dived evenly and well, while Sjöberg, who had plenty of pace andgood bearing in the air, quite spoiled his chances by a wretched entry into thewater. Jansson’s prospects were spoiled by failures in the voluntary dives. Zürnerwas best among the Germans, but did not show really good form, while Luber wasput out of the running by a totally unsuccessful “Isander”. Only Hjalmar Johanssonand Zürner qualified for the final.Heat 2: 1. ERIC ADLERZ, Sweden, pl. 6, pl. 74.76. 2. GUSTAF BLOMGREN,Sweden, pl. 9, p. 68.5. 3. HARALD ARBIN, Sweden, pl. 15, p. 62.75. 4. Ernst Eklund,Sweden, pl. 20, p. 59.9. 5. Sigvard Andersen, Norway, pl. 25, p. 56.4. 6. OskarWilhelm Wetzell, Finland, pl. 32, p. 50.46. 7. Kalle Kainuvaara, Finland, pl. 33, p. 48.1.A. Mc Aleenan, U. S. A., retired. Adlerz and Blomgren were the only competitorsof real class in this heat. Although Adlerz was placed after Blomgren byone of the judges, he was indisputably the better man. He did not quite succeed.however, in his plain dive from the highest platform ; the running dive especiallywas very mediocre. Arbin succeeded in getting 7/1o point more than Sjöberg, andthus qualified for the final. Kainuvaara (Finland) dived very unevenly, and gavespecimens both of excellent and bad diving. Mc Aleenan (U. S. A.) injured himselfin the I~/, somersault from the greatest height and retired from the contest.Heat 3: ALVIN CARLSSON, Sweden, pl. 7, p. 66.98. 2. GEORGE YVON, GreatBritain, pl. 9, p. 65.7. 3. TOIVO N. ARO, Finland, pl. 16, p. 62.75. 4. Robert Andersson,Sweden, pl. 18, p. 60.59. 5. Jens Harald Stefenson, Sweden, pl. 25, p. 41.54.J. P. Lyons, Canada, retired. Carlsson had an uncommonly good day and divedwith great confidence and in fairly good form. He was placed first by three ofthe judges, and second by two, while Yvon (Great Britain), who also dived well,was placed first by two of the judges. Robert Andersson, who was fourth manin the London competitions in 1908, came very near Aro, but did not threaten himseriously.731