1908 Summer Olympics
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| Games of the IV Olympiad | |
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| Host city | London, United Kingdom |
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| Nations participating | 22 |
| Athletes participating | 2,008 (1,971 men, 37 women,) |
| Events | 110 in 22 sports |
| Opening ceremony | April 27 |
| Closing ceremony | October 31 |
| Officially opened by | King Edward VII |
| Stadium | White City Stadium |
The 1908 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the IV Olympiad, were celebrated in 1908 in London. These games were originally scheduled to be held in Rome. At the time they were the fifth modern Olympic games. However, the Athens Games of 1906 have since been retroactively downgraded by the International Olympic Committee and thus the 1908 Games are seen as the start of the Fourth Olympiad, in keeping with the now-accepted four-year cycle. The IOC President for this games was Baron Pierre de Coubertin.
Italian authorities were preparing infrastructure for the games when Mount Vesuvius erupted on April 7, 1906, devastating the nearby city of Naples. Funds that were to have gone to the Olympics were diverted to the reconstruction of Naples, so a new venue was required. London was selected, and the games were held in White City alongside the Franco-British Exhibition, which at the time was the more noteworthy event. Berlin and Milan were the other candidates.
The White City Stadium, built in very short time especially for the games, held 68,000 people and was considered by some to be a technological marvel for the time. The distance from the start of the Marathon to the finish at the stadium was established at this games; 42.195 km (26 miles 385 yards). The starting line was moved to allow the Royal Family a good view.
The games were surrounded by controversy. On opening day, following the practice introduced at the Intercalated Games of 1906, the teams paraded behind their national flags. However, the arrangement caused several complications:
- The Finnish team were expected to march under the Russian flag rather than the Finnish flag, so 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.
- The United States flag had also not been displayed above the stadium before the opening so the United States' flag bearer refused to dip the flag to the royal box. Though the flag was later dipped in the collective greeting of the royal family, Martin Sheridan, American team captain, gave the explanation that "This flag dips to no earthly king."[1] Despite international customs that encourage dipping the flag as a sign of respect to heads of state, since 1908 US flag bearers have followed a tradition of not doing so.
The 1908 Olympics also prompted the establishment of standard rules for sports, and the selection of judges from different countries, rather than just the host. One of the reasons for this was the 400 metre run in which the US winner was accused of interfering with the 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 most famous incident of the games came at the end of the marathon. It occurred when the first runner 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 took him by the arms, and brought him to the line. As a consequence, after crossing the line he was disqualified. The medal went to American Johnny Hayes who was second over the line, but the glory went to Pietri. Since he himself had not been responsible for his disqualification Queen Alexandra the next day awarded him a gold cup in recognition of his achievement.
These Games were the first to include Winter events, such as had originally been proposed for the Games. There were four figure skating events contested. However, the on-ice events occurred months separated from most of the other events.
For the first time the Olympic creed saying that "the most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part" was publicly proclaimed, and its creator, a bishop from Pennsylvania, uttered it at a mass held at St. Paul's Cathedral on July 19..
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.
Serbia and Montenegro were still not participants of the Olympic affairs, and the first athlete from these parts of Europea to win an Olympic gold medal was a British water polo player and swimmer name Paul Radmilović, who was originally from Boka Kotorska and Dubrovnik. Nicknamed Pavao, he was a member of the champion water polo team and the best 4 x 200m freestyle relay. He also won gold medals in water polo in Stockholm (1912) and in Antwerp (1920).
The official budget of the organizing committee showed a cost of GB£15,000; over one-third of this was labeled as "entertainment expense". Donations were the major source of revenue, with only 28% of income derived from ticket sales. Total receipts of £21,377 resulted in organizers claiming a profit. Construction of the White City Stadium, which cost the British government about £60,000, was not counted as part of the budget.[2]
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[edit] Sports
22 sports, representing 24 sporting disciplines, were contested at the 1908 Games. Swimming, diving and water polo are considered three disciplines of the same sport, aquatics. At the time, the tug-of-war events were considered part of the Athletics programme 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".[3]
[edit] Participating nations
The 1908 Games featured athletes representing 22 National Olympic Committees. Argentina, Finland, Turkey, and New Zealand (as part of the team from Australasia) made their first appearance at the Olympic Games.
[edit] Medal count
These are the top ten nations that won medals at the 1908 Games.
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Great Britain (host nation) |
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 |
[edit] Notes
- ^ London Olympics 1908 & 1948
- ^ Zarnowski, C. Frank (Summer 1992). "A Look at Olympic Costs". Citius, Altius, Fortius 1 (1): 16-32. Retrieved on 2007-03-24.
- ^ Olympic Sports of the Past
- ^ Australasia included Australia and New Zealand.
- ^ The Grand Duchy of Finland was part of the Russian Empire at the time, but was treated as a separate nation.
- ^ The Netherlands was typically referred to in early Olympic competition as "Holland" though the entire nation of the Netherlands was the entity in question rather than the region of the country formally named Holland; the IOC currently refers to all entries from the nation as from "Netherlands".
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
| Preceded by St. Louis |
Summer Olympic Games Host City IV Olympiad (1908) |
Succeeded by Stockholm |
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| Sports • Medal counts • NOCs Medalists • Symbols |
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| Summer Games | 1896 • 1900 • 1904 • (1906) • 1908 • 1912 • |
| Winter Games | 1924 • 1928 • 1932 • 1936 • |
| Youth Games | 2010 Summer • 2012 Winter • 2014 Summer • 2016 Winter |
| Recent and upcoming Games: Athens 2004 • Turin 2006 • Beijing 2008 • Vancouver 2010 | |
