| 1920 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships | |
|---|---|
| Dates | 17 July 9–10 July (decathlon, steeplechase) |
| Host city | Cambridge, Massachusetts Travers Island, New York (decathlon, steeplechase) |
| Venue | Harvard Stadium (men) |
 | |
The1920 United States Olympic trials for track and field were held from 9 to 17 July 1920 and decided theUnited States team for the1920 Summer Olympics inAntwerp, Belgium. As women's athletics was not added to the Olympic programme until 1928, only a men's trials was held. Most of the finals took place 16–17 July inCambridge, Massachusetts atHarvard Stadium, except for the steeplechase and decathlon inTravers Island, New York and the decathlon inNew York City.
The meeting also served as the 1920USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, unlike future editions which were held separately. It was the firstU.S. track and field trials that consisted of only one final per event to make the team, except for the marathon trials which took place over four races.[1][2][3]
A maximum of four athletes could be named to the team per event, unlike the three-athlete-limit of future Olympics. Also unlike future Olympic trials, the 1920 trials results were not completely determinative of the team; in several cases athletes who finished outside of the top 4 were selected based on consistency of previous results.[1][4]
The marathon team was said to have been chosen based on results from marathons in Brooklyn, Detroit, Boston, and New York, although in practice only athletes that ran the Detroit, Boston, or New York marathons were selected. The top Americans at each of these races (Charles Mellor, 2:30:04 for 1st in Detroit;Arthur Roth, 2:30:21 for 2nd in Boston;Joseph Organ, 2:51:06.2 for 2nd in New York) were named to the team, along withCarl Linder who was the 2nd American finisher in Boston (2:23:32 for 3rd overall).[4]