At the 1908 Summer Olympics, a tug of war tournament was contested.

Medal table

Position	Country	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Great Britain	1	1	1	3
—	Sweden	0	0	0	0
	United States of America	0	0	0	0

Medal summary

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Men's tug of war	City of London Police Great Britain	Liverpool Police Great Britain	Metropolitan Police "K" Division Great Britain

Team rosters

Great Britain

City of London Police

• Edward Barrett
• John Duke
• Frederick Goodfellow
• Frederick Humphreys
• William Hirons
• Albert Ireton
• Frederick Merriman
• Edwin Mills
• John James Shepherd

Liverpool Police

• James Clarke
• Thomas Butler
• C. Foden
• William Greggan
• Alexander Kidd
• Daniel McLowey
• Patrick Philbin
• George Smith
• Thomas Swindlehurst

Metropolitan Police "K" Division

• Walter Chaffe
• Joseph Dowler
• Ernest Ebbage
• Thomas Homewood
• Alexander Munro
• William Slade
• Walter Tammas
• T. J. Williams
• James Woodget

Sweden

• Albrekt Almqwist
• Frans Fast
• Carl-Emil Johansson
• Emil Johansson
• Knut Johansson
• Karl Krook
• Karl-Gustaf Nilsson
• Anders Wollgarth

United States of America

• Wilbur Burroughs
• Wesley Coe
• Arthur Dearborn
• John Jesus Flanagan
• Marquis Horr
• Matt McGrath
• Ralph Rose
• Lee Talbott

Results

Quarterfinals

The German and Greek teams withdrew, narrowing the seven-team field to five. Thus, the Swedish team and two of the British squads had byes in the quarterfinals.

The only match held was between the Liverpool team and the Americans. Liverpool won the first pull easily, after which the United States delegation protested the footwear worn by the Liverpool police, who competed in their service boots. The protest was dismissed, and the Americans withdrew in disgust.

Winners		Score	Losers
Liverpool Police	Great Britain	2-0 (forfeit)	United States of America	United States of America
Sweden	Sweden	—	Bye
City of London Police	Great Britain	—	Bye
Metropolitan Police "K" Division	Great Britain	—	Bye

Semifinals

Liverpool again faced a foreign opponent, and again prevailed. The two London services squared off in the other semifinal, with the City police beating the Metropolitan men in a lengthy first pull. The second pull was not as tight a contest.

Winners		Score	Losers
Liverpool Police	Great Britain	2-0	Sweden	Sweden
City of London Police	Great Britain	2-0	Metropolitan Police "K" Division	Great Britain

Final

The Londoners defeated Liverpool in the final, winning the first two pulls.

Winners		Score	Losers
City of London Police	Great Britain	2-0	Liverpool Police	Great Britain

Bronze Medal Match

The Swedish team did not appear for the bronze medal match.

Winners		Score	Losers
Metropolitan Police "K" Division	Great Britain	walkover	Sweden	Sweden

Notes

Sources

• Cook, Theodore Andrea (1908). The Fourth Olympiad, Being the Official Report. London: British Olympic Association.
• De Wael, Herman Tug-of-War 1908. Herman's Full Olympians. (2001). .