Off they went. The pacewas torrid but young Meredith held on tenaciously and reachedthe tape, a stride ahead of his nearest challenger, Sheppard.All first six runners broke the “Olympic” record! The firstthree runners broke the “world” record. Only four metresseparated the winner from the runner in the fifth place.Thirty “track and field“ eventsfigured in the 1912 OlympicGames. The U.S.A. won sixteen, if Jim Thorpe"s victories are included. The hosts dominated the non-track and field events.