Journal of Olympic History

within a couple of hours. After that he hung up his spikes team in Berlin. After the Games he started at races in UK on definite terms, at least that was how it seemed. (being on a losing Empire two-mile relay squad v USA), It follows that in 1935 he was not seen on the tracks at Poland and Latvia. Back home again, his farewell run all - albeit with one single exception, the intercollegiate took place at the National Exhibition games at Toronto event in October. There he did his duty to McGill by post on 5 September. He won a 1000 yds handicap affair in no ing a 1.57,2 for the victory. sensational time. Then Phil once more had a change of mind. Probably Towards the end of the year Phil Edwards was named persuaded by federation people to give the Olympics the outstanding Canadian sportsman and athlete of 1936, another chance, Phil, who was his own coach, trainer receiving trophies and other distinctions. and adviser, resumed training in 1936. He made his He was expected to return to his birth nation to practise seasonal debût as late as the end of June. Before leaving his medical profession but did not. Instead, he accepted a for Berlin and his third Olympic participation, he did a three-year appointment as resident house surgeon at the 1.53,6 (metric) best, won one more national title, and was General Hospital of Barbados BWI. While serving there graduated from McGill as the first coloured student ever he was approached by Guiana officials with a proposal to be so at the School of Medicine. to him to run for the country at the Empire Games in Almost needless to say, he once more managed to Australia in 1938. Phil either was not interested or could peak at the right moment. In the unevenly paced 800 m not take the necessary time off. final, Phil appeared to even have a silver medal within his Yet in 1939 he was persuaded to compete at the British grasp - until the Italian, Lanzi, came sprinting and placed Guiana “Olympiad”, despite being untrained and semi himself between winner Woodruff and the Canadian injured, ending up fifth in the 880. veteran. His fifth Oympic bronze was a fact. During the war he served with the Royal Canadian His time in the final was poor, and he ran faster in Medical Corps and rose to the rank of captain. his heat with 1.53,2, which turned out to be his very last After it ended he earned his graduate medical Diploma, seasonal best. Imagine, an athlete placed No. 24 on the and began to specialize in tropical diseases. He joined the world list running third in a star-studded Olympic field! staff of the Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal. Edwards In the 1500 he got fifth, in an excellent 3.50,4 career never lost touch with the sport. He died on 7 September best, thrashing wellknown middle distance aces like 1971 following a heart attack. ■ Cornes, Szabo, Ny, Venzke ... John Lovelock of NZ won the gold in a 3.47,8 world record time, Cunningham Phil Edwards'Career Records second. It was the fastest race in history and Phil's fifth Outdoors: 400 m 49,2 (1928) - 800 m 1.51,5 (1.50,6) (1932) - 880 place as meritorious as unexpected. yds 1.52,2 (1929) - 1000 yds 2.10,8 - 1500 m 3.50,4 (1936) - Mile In the 4x400 m relay Phil was close to capturing still 4.25,6 (1929). Indoors: 500 m 1.05,0 (1929) - 600 yds 1.12,0 (1929) another bronze, yet the Canadians were edged out of the - 600 m 1.21,6 (1933) - 660 yds 1.22,1 (1933) - 880 yds 1.54,2 third-place by the German anchor, Rudolf Harbig. (1931 ) - 1000 yds 2.14,8 (1930) - Mile 4.21,Oe (1929). Edwards was elected captain of the Canadian track This Flag Dips to No Earthly King ... The 1908 Olympic Opening Ceremony: Fresh Evidence ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Bob Wilcock — ill Mallon and Ian Buchanan have dealt auth then he did dip it while in line with the other flag bearers”. Boritatively concerning the controversies relating to They speculated that the issue may never be fully resolved, the flags at the Opening Ceremony, and the conflicting but evidence has at last emerged. reports of flag-bearer identity, in their article in JOH Vol. 7, No. 3, September 1999 (reprinted in the 2009 XIII The Flags around the Stadium Olympic Congress Special Issue), and in their book The 1908 Olympic Games, (Appendix II). Mallon and Buchanan record the US protest at the fact There were two occasions in the Opening ceremony that ‘Old Glory’ was not flying amongst the flags around when the flag should have been dipped: when the teams the stadium (nor was the Swedish flag) (pp. 314-5). These lined up on the field facing the Royal Box, and during the omissions were soon put right, and the British Olympic march-past, as the teams passed the Royal Box. Association apologised. The reason for the omission, and Mallon and Buchanan concluded that the “possibility the fact that flags of non-competing nations China and exists, which... would explain both aspects of the problem. Japan were flying is that, under the agreement between the Perhaps Rose failed to dip the flag during the march-past... BOA and the organisers of the Franco-British Exhibition which was of little consequence to the British media, but it was the responsibility of the organisers not only to Fig. 1:The American athletes approaching the Royal Box, caps on heads (private collection). build the stadium but also to furnish it1. Imre Kiralfe, because his face is hidden by his arm holding the flag a Hungarian showman, was the man in charge, and he (Fig. 3), but he is named in the Daily Mail report of the and his committee quite simply provided flags without Opening Ceremony as Émile Demangel, who went on full knowledge of, nor consideration of the countries that to take the Silver Medal in the one-lap (660 yards) cycle were or were not competing. The American annoyance is race (Fig. 4). The standard-bearer is not identified, but is understandable, and it turns out was to have an interest potentially recognisable from photographs4. ing consequence, but the issue did not make the minutes The flag-bearers for a number of other teams have also of the British Olympic Council who held daily meetings not been identified. To date no photographs have been throughout the Games (although urgent issues were dealt found that might enable visual determination of the flag with on the spot, without reference to the Council). bearer for these teams, although there is more than one photo showing that Finland did not have a flag, and did not even have a proper name-plate because they arrived The American flag bearer only just before the ceremony started (Fig. 5).5 Photographic evidence solved the question as to who was the American flag bearer, confirming it to be Ralph Rose The Build-up to the Opening Ceremony (Fig. 1). The standard bearer in front of him was Johnny Garrells2. It may be added that The Chicago Daily News The protocol for the Opening Ceremony was published identifies the gentleman in top-hat and tailcoat behind well in advance. It was in all the major newspapers, and Rose as “Matty” Halpin, the team manager. will certainly have been given to team managers. British Olympic Council minutes confirm the obvious, that there was regular communication with all the teams. The teams The Canadian Flag Bearer shared specific “assembly rooms” under the stadium, and Photographs have also come to light of the Canadian press reports indicate that some at least undertook train Olympic team in the march past (e.g. Fig. 2). These have ing in the stadium in the days leading up to the Games. enabled Robert K. Barney to identify the flag bearer as This included the US team. The majority arrived Ed Archibald of Toronto (who won a Bronze in the pole by USMB Philadelphia on 5 July, and initially stayed at vault) and swimmer Robert Zimmerman as the standard Londons St. Ermin’s Hotel. They were reportedly unhappy bearer3. The photos also confirm that the team marched with the arrangements made for them, and the crowded under the Canadian flag (c.f. speculation reported in stadium for training, so James Sullivan moved most of the Mallon & Buchanan, p. 36, note 18). team to Brighton on England’s south coast, about an hour by train from London.6 They stayed at the town’s finest hotel, the Hotel The French Flag Bearer Metropole, and trained at the Preston Park cricket ground The identity of the French flag-bearer has been reported about a mile from the hotel. It was there that the first as unknown to the French Olympic Committee (CNOSF). Anglo-American “incident” took place. It was a good- He cannot be identified from photographs of the parade humoured incident, and the Americans clearly thought Fig. 2: The Canadian team (Daily Graphic photographs, private collection). nothing of it, and indeed afterwards wrote saying how much they had enjoyed their stay in Brighton, and how good they had found the training facilities. They arrived in Brighton on the Tuesday before the Games, and on the Friday afternoon when they turned up at Preston Park they found the cricket pitch firmly occupied by a local archery club who had a regular booking.

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