 In the competition he first entered the long jump, with no qualification round it was straight in to the final, there are no official records of the distance he jumped but it is known he finished outside the first six out of nine athletes.A couple of days later he was on the track competing in the 110 metres hurdles, although his time isn't known he did finish last in his heat so didn't qualify for the final later that day.Gardner was the Australian national champion in the 1899–1900 season for the 120 yard hurdles, and also Australasia champion in the same event in 1903.