He won by nearly 700 points.

What The Rules Said — And What They Were Actually For

The Olympic Games of 1912 were the Games of strict amateurism, which meant they were also the Games of a very specific kind of hypocrisy.

The principle that Olympic athletes must be amateurs — must not accept payment for athletic performance — had been part of the Olympic revival since Pierre de Coubertin and his colleagues established the modern Games in 1896.

The amateur ideal had roots in English upper-class sporting culture, where the idea of earning money from athletics was considered beneath the dignity of a gentleman who competed for the love of the sport and the honor of competition.