1908 Summer Olympics

Games of the IV Olympiad

Host city	London, United Kingdom
Nations participating	22
Athletes participating	2,008 (1,971 men, 37 women)[1]
Events	110 in 22 sports
Opening ceremony	April 27
Closing ceremony	October 31
Officially opened by	King Edward VII
Stadium	White City Stadium
Summer:
<  St. Louis 1904 Stockholm 1912  >

The 1908 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the IV Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was held in 1908 in London, England from 27 April to 31 October 1908. These games were originally scheduled to be held in Rome, but were re-located on financial grounds following a disastrous eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 1906. They were the fourth chronological modern Olympic Games in keeping with the now-accepted four-year cycle as opposed to the proposed Intercalated Games alternate four-year cycle. The IOC president for these Games was Baron Pierre de Coubertin. Lasting a total of 187 days, or 6 months and 4 days, these games were the longest in modern Olympics history.

Background

The selection process for the 1908 Summer Olympics consisted of four bids, and saw Rome selected ahead of London, Berlin and Milan. The selection was made at the 6th IOC Session in London in 1904.^[2]

Italian authorities were preparing to hold the games when Mount Vesuvius erupted on 7 April 1906, devastating the city of Naples. Funds were diverted to the reconstruction of Naples, so a new venue was required. London was selected for the first time to hold the Games which were held at White City alongside the Franco-British Exhibition, at the time the more noteworthy event.

The White City Stadium, built in short time for the games, held 68,000 and was considered by some a technological marvel. The stadium track was three laps to the mile (536 metres), not the current standard of 400 metres, with a pool for swimming and diving and platforms for wrestling and gymnastics in the middle.^[3]

The distance from the start of the Marathon to the finish at the stadium was established at these games. The original distance of 25 miles was changed to 26 miles so the marathon could start at Windsor Castle and then changed again at the request of Princess Mary so the start would be beneath the windows of the Royal Nursery.^[4] To ensure that the race would finish in front of the King, the finish line was moved by British officials who, in response to shot putter and American flag carrier Ralph Rose's refusal to dip the American flag before the Royal Box during the opening ceremony, “felt compelled to restore the importance of the monarchy.” As a result of these changes, the marathon covered a distance of 26 miles 385 yards (42.195 km), which became the standard length starting with the 1924 Summer Olympics.^[5]

The Games

The games were surrounded by controversy. On the opening day, following the practice introduced at the Intercalated Games of 1906, teams paraded behind national flags. However, the arrangement caused complications:

• Since Finland was part of the Russian Empire, members of the Finnish team were expected to march under the Russian rather than Finnish flag, so many chose to march without a flag at all.
• The Swedish flag had not been displayed above the stadium, so the members of the Swedish team decided not to take part in the ceremony.

American refusal of flag dipping

The flag of the United States had also not been displayed above the stadium before the opening. The United States' flag bearer, Ralph Rose, refused to dip the flag to King-Emperor Edward VII in the royal box. However, the flag was later dipped in the collective greeting of the royal family. Martin Sheridan, Irish American Athletic Club member and American team captain, is apocryphally believed to have supported Rose by explaining "This flag dips to no earthly king." It is claimed that his statement exemplified both American and Irish defiance of the British monarchy. However, research has shown that this quotation by Sheridan was first reported in 1952, some 24 years after his death.^[6][7]

Events

The 1908 Olympics also prompted establishment of standard rules for sports, and selection of judges from different countries rather than just the host. One reason was the 400 meter race, in which a US runner was accused of interfering with a British runner. Part of the problem was the different definition of interference under British and US rules. The race was re-run, but the Americans refused to participate. The British runner, Wyndham Halswelle, won by running around the track on his own, because three of the four original runners had been American, the only walkover in Olympic history.

Dorando Pietri finishes the marathon.

The medal of the 1908 British Olympic Council.

Shooting at the 1908 Summer Olympics: the revolver and pistol competition at Bisley, Surrey

Original caption: "One of the most curious contests at the Olympic Games is the duelling with wax bullets. The combatants are as elaborately protected as a German student duellist, and even the revolver has a large hand-guard. The helmet has a plate-glass window."

The most famous incident of the games came at the end of the marathon. The first to enter the stadium, Dorando Pietri of Italy, collapsed several times and ran the wrong way. Not far from the finish-line, two of the officials, Jack Andrew, the clerk of the course and Dr Michael Bulger of the Irish Amateur Athletic Association and the chief medical officer that day, went to his aid. Pietri eventually crossed the line in first place, but the runner-up, American Johnny Hayes of the Irish American Athletic Club protested, leading to Pietri's disqualification. Since he had not been responsible for his disqualification, Queen Alexandra awarded him a gilded silver cup the next day.

These Games were the first to include winter events, as had originally been proposed for the Games. There were four figure skating events, although held on October 28 and 29, months after the other events.

Oscar Swahn from Sweden, who won the gold medal for running deer shooting, became the oldest Olympic champion of all time, and set another age record by being 72 years and 279 days old during his triumph at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp, Belgium. One of the more unusual shooting events in 1908 was dueling. The discipline, which was an associate event (i.e. not official), was performed by facing opponents wearing protective clothing and masks and firing wax bullets.^[8]

American John Taylor was a member of the winning medley relay team, making him the first African-American athlete to win an Olympic gold medal.^[9] Times for the winning team were United States (3:29.4): William Hamilton-200 metres (22.0), Nathaniel Cartmell-200 metres (22.2), John Taylor-400 metres (49.8), and Melvin Sheppard-800 metres (1:55.4).^[10]

Tragically, Taylor "died on December 2, 1908, after his return to the United States, much regretted by all who met him [there]."^[10]

The budget of the organising committee showed a cost of £15,000; over one-third was labeled "entertainment expense". Donations were the major source of revenue; only 28% of income derived from ticket sales. Total receipts of £21,377 resulted in organisers claiming a profit. Construction of the White City Stadium, which cost the government about £60,000, was not counted.^[11]

Sports

22 sports, representing 110 events in 24 sporting disciplines, were contested. Swimming, diving and water polo are considered three disciplines of the same sport, aquatics. At the time, tug-of-war was part of athletics and the two different football codes (association and rugby (union)) were listed together. The International Olympic Committee now considers tug-of-war a separate sport, as well as referring to association football as simply "football" and to rugby union as "rugby".^[12] In one of seven Cycling events (Cycling sprint) no medals were awarded. The Sailing program was open for a total of five sailing classes, but actually only four Sailing events were contested. The number of events in each discipline is noted in parentheses.

Venues

Twelve sports venues were used for the 1908 Summer Olympics. The first winter sports took place at Prince's Skating Club. White City Stadium served as a precursor to modern stadiums. The figure skating events did not take place at the next Olympics in Stockholm, but returned for the 1920 Games in Antwerp. They served as the precursor for the first Winter Olympics that took place in Chamonix sixteen years later. White City served as the main venue for the 1934 British Empire Games (Commonwealth Games since 1978) and a venue for the 1966 FIFA World Cup before its demolition in 1985. The All England Tennis and Lawn Club continues to serve as host for Wimbledon's tennis events and is the only venue of the 1908 Games to serve as one for the 2012 Summer Olympics.^[13]

Bisley and Henley served as venues in the 1948 Games when the Olympics returned to London forty years later.^[14]

Participating nations

Participants of the 1908 Games

Number of participating athletes per country

The 1908 Games featured athletes representing 22 National Olympic Committees. Finland, Turkey and New Zealand (as part of the team from Australasia) made their first appearance at the Olympic Games. The fact that the United Kingdom competed as a single team was upsetting to some Irish competitors, who felt that Ireland should compete on its own, despite being part of the UK at the time. Fearing an Irish boycott, the authorities changed the name of the team to Great Britain/Ireland, and in two sports, field hockey and polo, Ireland participated as a separate country, winning silver medals in both.^[29] Irish athletes in the United States were not affected by this controversy, and many Irish born athletes competed for the U.S. Olympic team as members of the Irish American Athletic Club. Members of the Irish American Athletic Club won ten of the U.S. Olympic team's total 23 gold medals, or as many as the nations of France, Germany and Italy combined.

Number of athletes by National Olympic Committees

IOC	Country	Athletes
GBR	Great Britain	676
FRA	France	363
SWE	Sweden	168
USA	United States	112
NED	Netherlands[30]	113
BEL	Belgium	88
CAN	Canada	87
DEN	Denmark	81
GER	Germany	81
NOR	Norway	69
ITA	Italy	68
FIN	Finland[31]	67
HUN	Hungary	63
ANZ	Australasia[32]	32
GRE	Greece	20
BOH	Bohemia	19
RSA	South Africa	14
AUT	Austria	7
RUS	Russia	6
ARG	Argentina	1
SUI	Switzerland	1
TUR	Turkey[33]	1[34]
Total	2,008

Medal count

The gold medal winning British tug of war team from the City of London Police.

These are the top ten nations that won medals at the 1908 Games.

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Great Britain (GBR)	56	51	39	146
2	United States	23	12	12	47
3	Sweden	8	6	11	25
4	France	5	5	9	19
5	Germany	3	5	5	13
6	Hungary	3	4	2	9
7	Canada	3	3	10	16
8	Norway	2	3	3	8
9	Italy	2	2	0	4
10	Belgium	1	5	2	8

See also

• Summer Olympic Games
• Olympic Games
• International Olympic Committee
• List of IOC country codes
• 1948 Summer Olympics and 2012 Summer Olympics - which were also held in London.
• History of Shepherd's Bush

Notes

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 1908 Summer Olympics.

• "London 1908". Olympic.org. International Olympic Committee. 
• "Results and Medalists". Olympic.org. International Olympic Committee. 
• Cook, Theodore Andrea (May 1909). The Fourth Olympiad London 1908 Official Report (PDF). London: British Olympic Association. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 May 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-08. 
• Mallon, Bill; Buchanan, Ian (2000). "Background" (PDF). The 1908 Olympic Games: Results for All Competitors in All Events, with Commentary. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-0598-5. Retrieved 2008-05-08. 
• Jenkins, Rebecca (2008). The First London Olympics: 1908. Piatkus Books. ISBN 978-0-7499-5168-9. 
• Video footage of the 1908 Summer Olympics
• White City Stadium/BBC radio
• The London Olympics by Russell James

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