Olympic Controversy
The Olympic road race in Amsterdam in 1928 was run against the clock, as an individual time-trial. It was the last to be disputed that way. Southall was one of the best performers in the world against the clock but in 21 miles (34 km) he lost seven minutes to Henry Hansen of Denmark.
Bill Mills of the News Chronicle wrote:
- The British team sent over for the 1928 Games at Amsterdam was probably the best that ever left our shores. It included the great Frank Southall, unbeatable in time-trials on the road... Our best chance was in the road race, a 165km (102½ miles) time-trial, and a sensation was caused when Southall was beaten into second place by the Dane, Harry Hansen, who took 4h 47m 17s against Southall's 4h 55m 6s. British officials lodged a protest, alleging that Hansen had not covered the full course, but it was proved that he had and the result stood.
British officials protested that Southall had been 90 seconds behind Hansen at 50 km but that 34 km later the lead had stretched to eight and a half minutes. They insisted that Hansen had neither gone faster nor Southall slower. Southall had been riding fast enough to take back a minute in the last half of the race. They suggested that the Dane had taken a short cut.
The judges turned down the protest and Hansen received the gold medal.
What happened remains a mystery. Southall and the officials believed they had been cheated. But another member of the team, Jack Lauterwasser did not believe it then and never changed his mind. "I couldn't see where anything like that could have happened. It seemed to me that it would have been impossible to go off-course," he said.
Southall finished sixth in the Olympic road race in 1932, with Charles Holland 15th and Stan Butler 16th. The Great Britain team finished fourth overall. In the team pursuit, Britain, with Southall, beat Canada to take bronze.
Read more about this topic: Frank Southall
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