In May 1912, George Horine had become the first man to clear 2m
when winning the US Western Olympic Trials, In doing so he popu-
larised the Western Roll as the style to use (at least for the next 20-25
years). A hiccup occurred at the Eastern Trials when he placed only
fifth with 1.84, but this was considered an aberration, and Horine
remained firm favourite to win in Stockholm.
When the bar was raised to 1.91, Horine was accompanied by
Liesche, the German Champion who had a best of 1.85 indoors in 1911,
and Richards, who had a best of 1.855. He had been selected by win-
ning the Central US Trials though many felt he should have been left
off the team. Liesche cleared first time, while Richards climbed over on
his third attempt, leaving Horine with the bronze. At 1.93, the big
(1.88/93kg) Richards cleared first time with 5cm to spare, but Liesche
was delayed on his last jump by the start of a race and the stadium
band. After nine minutes he was told to hurry up and naturally enough
failed to clear.
United States
Germany
Sweden
Hungary
Great Britain
Finland
Norway
France
Chile
Italy
