Western roll Osborn (1924), Walter Marty (1933), and Cornelius Johnson (1936). Johnson's record, (), was equaled on the same day by Dave Albritton, the first world record holder to use what we now call the straddle technique. At first, the straddle was viewed as just a variation of the Western roll, and indeed video of the 1936 Olympics shows Albritton using a conventional Western roll at lower heights. The straddle did not come to dominate the high jump until the mid-1950s, by which time it was recognized as a separate style. Walt Davis was the last Western roll jumper to hold the
Athletics at the 1908 Summer Olympics the previous two editions; the team race also had its distance shortened. A short track relay event was added. The multi-discipline triathlon and decathlon events that had been experimented with at the 1904 Games were both absent, as was the 56 pound weight throw. An unusual event featuring the discus, which had become a staple of Olympic athletics, was held in which throwers had to follow a very specific throwing style. Overall there was one more event on the 1908 programme than there had been in 1904. New: Removed: ! July ||width=30| 13th ||width=30| 14th ||width=30| 15th ||width=30| 16th ||width=30|