University of Toronto Athletics

Ed Archibald was a two sport athlete at the University of Toronto, competing for Varsity in track and field and gymnastics. In 1905 he set a new intercollegiate record for the pole vault at 10’ 2 ¼”. He then improved upon that height later that year setting an international record with a vault of 12’ 5 ½”.

As a Canadian pole vault champion, his impressive statistics and athleticism earned Ed a place at the 1906 Athens Olympics, a special competition in honour of the tenth anniversary of the beginnings of the modern games. He was favoured to win a medal but unfortunately his pole fell off the train while going through Italy on the way to Athens and was never recovered. Although he was able to borrow a pole locally in order to compete he was not able to attain his peak performance with the replacement gear. Ed did earn an Olympic medal in the London games in 1908, but again his performance was compromised. Prior to his jumps, Ed was told that his friend and teammate Tom Longboat had collapsed and died during the marathon. This news so shook Ed that his concentration was broken and his jumps were not up to his training level. Fortunately, the news regarding Longboat was incorrect and Ed himself recovered sufficiently to earn the Silver medal.

Ed remained active throughout his life and was responsible for establishing the YMCA recreation and sports programs for troops in WWI in France and Belgium and ran a series of successful recreation and camping programs for children.