| Team race at theOlympic Games | |
|---|---|
 The 1912 team race final | |
| Overview | |
| Sport | Athletics |
| Gender | Men |
| Years held | Men:1900–1924 |
Team races at theSummer Olympics weretrack running competitions contested at themulti-sport event from 1900 to 1924.
The first such event was over5000 metres at the1900 Summer Olympics. This became a 4-mile race for the1904 Summer Olympics, then a 3-mile race for the1908 Summer Olympics. The most consistent format was over3000 metres: this distance was contested on three consecutive occasions from 1912 to 1924, at which point track team races were removed from theOlympic athletics programme.
The races typically permitted up to five athletes per nation, with a minimum of three required to form a team. Each team score was the sum of the finishing positions of that nation's top three athletes. For example, first, second and third places would create a team score of six.
For 1900 and 1904 only two teams were entered: the point scoring format incorporated all five of each team's runners. On both occasions these were races between two majorathletic clubs. In 1900Racing Club de France competed against theAmateur Athletic Association (AAA) of Great Britain. In 1904 theNew York Athletic Club took on theChicago Athletic Association. Since theInternational Olympic Committee recognises only nations for medal table purposes, the AAA and Chicago teams are now designated asMixed Olympic Teams as the presence of AustralianStan Rowley and French immigrant to the United StatesAlbert Corey, respectively, meant that the teams fielded were not entirely British or American.[1][2]
| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Olympics | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | George Bonhag |  United States (USA) | 1908–1912 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United States (USA) | 3 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| 2 |  Great Britain (GBR) | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| 3 |  Mixed team (ZZX) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 4 |  Finland (FIN) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 5= |  France (FRA) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 5= |  Sweden (SWE) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
In addition to the main1904 4-mile team race, ahandicap competition was also staged. This race, contested over one mile, sawMissouri Athletic Club take on fellow American sports clubSt. Louis Southwest Turnverein. Missouri won the race in a time of 3:52.2, with the St. Louis team finishing some 80 yards off the winners.[4]
This handicap race, along with numerous other handicap athletics events, is no longer considered part of the official Olympic history of the team race or the athletics programme in general. Consequently, medals from these competitions have not been assigned to nations on theall-time medal tables.[4]
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