John Condict Carpenter (December 7, 1884 – June 4, 1933) was an American sprinter. He competed at the 1908 Summer Olympics in

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, contributing to one of the many sporting controversies of the 1908 Games.

Early life

John Carpenter was born in Washington, DC in 1884, the oldest child of noted travel writer Frank G. Carpenter and Joanna Carpenter (née Condict), and the brother of future author and folklorist Frances Carpenter. Carpenter traveled widely in the company of his family throughout his childhood, before matriculating at

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...

, from which he graduated in 1907. Carpenter placed third in the 1908 collegiate national track and field championship 440 yard, while running for Cornell.

Participation in the 1908 London Olympics

He advanced to the finals in the men's 400 meters race at the 1908 Summer Olympics after winning his preliminary heat with a time of 49.8 seconds and his semifinal in 49.4 seconds. In the first running of the final race, Carpenter came in first out of the four runners, clocking 47.8 seconds. However, umpire Roscoe Badger determined that Carpenter had willfully interfered with

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runner

Wyndham Halswelle Wyndham Halswelle (30 May 1882 – 31 March 1915) was a British athlete. He won the controversial 400m race at the 1908 Summer Olympics, becoming the only athlete to win an Olympic title by a walkover. Halswelle was also an infantry ...

. Though the obstructing maneuver was then legal under American rules, the Olympic contests were held under British rules, which did not allow it. Carpenter was disqualified and the race was ordered to be repeated without him. His countrymen, John Taylor and William Robbins, protested the ruling by boycotting the second final, leaving Halswelle to take the gold medal uncontested in the only

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in the modern Olympic history.

Legacy and death

The disputed race was instrumental in the formation of the International Amateur Athletic Federation before the next Olympics, which sought to standardize the rules by which various sports played around the world. Additionally, judges were no longer provided by the host country but rather allocated from an international pool. As for the 400 meter sprint, following 1908, lanes were introduced to reduce incidents of runner-interference. Carpenter dropped racing after 1908 and went on to become a patent attorney and investment broker in Chicago. He married Laura Helen Elliott, and had three children, Frank George Carpenter, Marion Frances Carpenter, John Elliot Carpenter. He was hit and killed by a train in 1933.

References

Sources

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External links

Profile at ''Sports-Reference.com''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carpenter, John C. 1884 births 1933 deaths Cornell University alumni Athletes (track and field) at the 1908 Summer Olympics Olympic track and field athletes of the United States American male sprinters