Olympic history-year by year-Summer

[soberdennis]

I thought I would add this Historical notes thread to my other related thread.
1896 Athens, Greece
The Olympics had existed in ancient Greece for centuries before the Romans disbanded them in the fourth century. A Frenchman named Pierre De Coubertin came up with the idea of reviving the games and the first modern games were set for Athens in 1896. 14 nations sent 241 athletes to compete in 43 events in 9 sports.
The featured sport, of course was Athletics-Track and Field as we know it. The US dominated most of the Athletics events. James Connolly was the first Olympic champion in the 100 Meter Run. Other Americans who did well included Robert Garrett, Thomas Burke, Thomas Curtis, and Ellary Clark.
Two non Americans also shone. Edwin Flack of Australia won the 800 and 1500. And in the first Olympic Marathon, set on the route Pheidippides took from Marathon to Athens to pronounce victory in the Battle of Marathon, was won by Greek shepherd boy Spiridon Louis, to the thrill of the local fans. It was Greece's only Athletics gold.
Another set of American heroes were the Paine brothers, John and Sumner, who each won gold in Shooting.
Overall, the US won 11 Gold medals to top the list. The host country won the most medals with 46.

[nebo86]

It would have been great for baseball if it were on the first Olympic Program. Unfortunately, Spalding's World Tour did not do much to spread baseball enough to make it to the first modern Olympics. How different would baseball be if it had developed as an Olympic Sport sooner?

[soberdennis]

1900 Paris, France
The second Olympic games were held in Baron De Coubertin's hometown of Paris. In what became a big mistake, they were held in conjunction with the World's Fair. 24 nations took part in 19 sports, including Rugby, Golf, Polo, and Tug of War.
The US again dominated the Track and Field events. Alvin Kranzlein won 4 individual gold medals, a feat that has never been matched. John Walter Tewksbury won 5 medals. Ray Ewry won his first 3 golds in a career that would eventually garner him 8.
Women participated in the games for the first time in Croquet, Golf, and Tennis. British tennis star Charlotte Cooper became the first female gold medalist.
Among the Shooting events was a Live Pigeon Shooting competition. This marked the only time live animals were intentionally killed in Olympic competition.
Another star of the games was Cuban fencer Ramon Fonst, who won a gold and silver.
The host country took home the most medals with 101.
Overall the Olympics were a disaster. Some competitors were not even aware that they were taking part in the Olympics. An official record was not kept and some of the results are disputed.

[soberdennis]

1904St Louis, Missouri, United States
The games of the third Olympiad were originally scheduled for Chicago. But pressure from the organizers of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition and President Theodore Roosevelt led to them being moved to St Louis. They were again part of the World's Fair. Travel difficulties led to many European nations not participating and many events turned out to be All American affairs. In fact, Americans won a record 80 gold medals which still stands.
12 nations competed in 16 official sports. Baseball and Basketball were also included as demonstration sports.
Freestyle Wrestling and Boxing made their first appearance, along with the Decathlon.
Among the stars were Archie Hahn, James Lightbody, and Ray Ewry in Track, George Eyser in Gymnastics, and Frank Kugler in Wrestling, Weightlifting, and Tug of War.
The games were again a disaster. To attempt to combat these problems and spur more enthusiasm for the Olympics, the IOC decided to have a separate games, or Intercalated games, in Athens every two years between the regular games. They did this in 1906, but stopped afterwards. The results of the 1906 games are unofficial.

[soberdennis]

1908 London, United Kingdom
The first time London hosted the games was the fourth Olympiad. They were actually awarded the games after Rome had to withdraw due to the eruption of Mount Vesuvius.
22 nations competed in 22 sports. The host country won the most medals for the fourth straight time.
There was a first in the Marathon. The organizers decided that they wanted the race to end in front of Queen Alexandra's box, so they added 385 yards inside Shepherd's Bush Stadium to the 26 miles run before reaching the stadium. The ensuing distance of 26 miles, 385 yards has become the standard distance for all marathons.
The Marathon is noteworthy for another reason. The winner, Johnny Hayes of the US, entered the stadium second. But Italian runner Dorando Pietri was so exhausted entering the stadium that he stumbled and fell several times trying to finish the race. Eventually, race officials lifted him up and dragged him across the finish line. Such help was obviously illegal and led to Pietri's disqualification. But he became a celebrity due to his effort.
There was also controversy surrounding the 400 meters. Three Americans and one Brit qualified for the final. During the race, the American winner was accused of interfering with the Brit. The race was ordered rerun, but the Americans refused to compete in said race. Therefore the Brit ran the 400 meters alone, making him the only walkover winner in Olympic history.
Winter sports were included in the program in the form of Figure Skating. The Men's winner was Ulrich Salchow, after whom a jump in the sport is named.
At age 60, shooter Oscar Swahn of Sweden became the oldest gold medalist in history. He would win again in 1920 at 72.
In the Relay, John Taylor became the first African American to win a gold medal.
Ray Ewry finished his career with 2 more golds, giving him 8.
Despite the controversies, the games were pretty well organized and were easily the most successful since 1896.

[Mex86]

I was just watching the 1896 Games on ESPN Classic. What a thrill: no PEDs, no political protests, no NBA players refusing to stay in the Olympic village - just the Olympics as they were meant to be.

[soberdennis]

1912 Stockholm, Sweden
Sweden was awarded the games of the 5th Olympiad. The only controversy stemmed from the fact that the host country refused to allow boxing. This led to the IOC limiting the host countries' ability to decide what events to have. Other than that, the games were easily the best to date.
There were many stars of the games. But none stood out more than a young Sac and Fox Indian named Jim Thorpe. He entered the Pentathlon(Long Jump, 200 metres, discus, javelin, and 1500 metres) which was decided by ordinals(placement in each event) and dominated the competition, placing first in 4 of the events. He then entered the Decathlon and set a world record in winning his second gold. Although he did not medal, he also entered the Long Jump and High Jump. In presenting his medals to Thorpe, King Gustav proclaimed "You are the greatest".
It was later revealed that Thorpe had played semipro baseball in 1909 and 1910. For this he was deemed a professional and stripped of his medals, although the silver medalists of both events refused the gold. It wasn't until 1982 that the IOC finally reversed themselves and returned Thorpe's gold medals to his children posthumously.
Thorpe went on to play MLB for the Giants and Reds and appeared in two World Series. Then he joined the new NFL and was on of their first stars. In 1950, he was named the greatest athlete of the first half of the 20th century.
Another star was Hannes Kohlehmainen, the first of the "Flying Finns" who were to soon dominate the distance races. He won the 5000, 10000, and the Cross Country.
Duke Kohanamaku became the first of many great American swimmers.
A new sport was introduced called the Modern Pentathlon, in which athletes competed in Running, Swimming, Shooting, Fencing, and riding. The Swedes swept the medals. But they would not have if one American had been a better shooter. His name was George Patton, who later gained fame in WW2. The points were awarded on an ordinal basis and all Patton had to do was finish 6th in the shooting to win the gold. He finished 21st, which placed him 5th overall.
Woman's swimming and diving were first introduced.
The US won the most Golds with 25. But the host country again won the most medals.
This also marked the last time Russia sent a team until 1952.

[soberdennis]

1916 Berlin, Germany
In the ancient Olympics they had something called "the Truce of God", which put a halt to any wars going on during the Olympics. In the modern games, no such truce has existed and the 1916 games, scheduled for Berlin, were cancelled due to WW1.

[soberdennis]

1920 Antwerp, Belgium
The games of the 7th Olympiad were originally scheduled for Budapest, Hungary. But because Hungary had been on the losing side in the war, it was withdrawn. In fact, Hungary, along with Germany, Austria, Bulgaria, and Turkey, was not allowed to participate in the games at all. This marked the only time between 1912 and 1964 the individual saber gold went to someone other than a Hungarian.
Instead, Belgium was rewarded for the suffering they had during the war by giving the games to Antwerp. Because of the war, The city was not well equipped for the games. But they went off well anyhow.
This was the first appearance of the Olympic oath and flag.
It also saw the debut of arguably the greatest distance runner of all time. Paavo Nurmi of Finland began his Olympic career with 2 gold and a silver.
Hungary's absence opened the door for Nedo Nadi of Italy. Nadi added to his Foil gold of Stockholm with Golds in the Foil and Sabre, along with being part of the winning Italian teams in all three fencing disciplines for a total of 5 gold medals, a total that would go unmatched for 52 years for one Olympic games.
The Rowing competition saw the beginning of the American domination of the Eights with a crew from the Naval Academy. It also saw the Debut of three of the greatest scullers of all time. Jack Kelly, Paul Costello, and Jack Beresford. Kelly won the Single and Double(with Costello) Sculls. He may be better known as the father of Princess Grace of Monaco.
Diver Aileen Riggin won the Springboard event at the age of 13, making her the youngest gold medalist ever.
This was also the year of the first great American Boxing team, which won three gold medals. Flyweight Frankie Genaro later became World Champion. Light Heavyweight Eddie Eagan has another claim to fame. After winning his gold in Antwerp, Eagan showed up in Lake Placid 12 years later as a member of the US Bobsled team and won the gold as a member of the four man team, making him one of only two people two win golds in both the Summer and Winter Games.
At age 72, Sweden's Oscar Swahn became the oldest gold medalist ever as part of Sweden's Running Deer team.
For the first time the host country did not win the most medals. instead the US led in both golds with 41 and total medals with 95.

[soberdennis]

1924 Paris, France Chamonix,France
The games of the 8th Olympiad returned to De Coubertin's homeland of France, giving them the chance to redeem themselves for the disaster of 1900.
After having a limited number of winter sports in 1908 and 1920, it was decided to have a separate Winter Olympics for the first time. At first these were held in the same year as the Summer games. The Alpine city of Chamonix was chosen for the first Winter games and competition was held in Ice Hockey, Figure Skating, Bobsled, Speed Skating, and Nordic Skiing.
One particular competitor to note was an 11 year old Figure Skater from Norway. She finished last in her Olympic debut.. But she did not let that stop her. By the time she retired to go to Hollywood and make movies at the age of 24, Sonja Heinie woul compete in 3 more Olympics and win 3 Gold Medals. More than anyone, she is responsible for making her sport the glamour event of the Winter Olympics.
Back to the Summer games, held in Paris. 44 nations participated in 17 sports. Uruguay(which won the Soccer Gold) and Mexico were among the nations appearing for the first time. Germany was still not invited.
These were the first games to feature an Olympic Villiage and the Motto-"Faster, higher, Stronger".
The Oscar winning film "Chariots of Fire" was set during these Olympic games. It featured 100 Meter winner Harold Abraham and 400 Meter winner Eric Liddell.
This was Paavo Nurmi's Olympics. he won 5 Gold Medals, including the 1500 and 5000 which were held 55 minutes apart. He may have won a 6th had the Finnish Olympic team allowed him to defend his 10000 meter title.
It also was Johnny Weismuller's Olympics. The future Tarzan won 3 Gold Medals, setting World records in all three events.
One member of the 8 man rowing team chose not to compete for personal reasons. Bill Havens' wife was expecting a child. That child turned out to be Frank Havens, who won a gold in Canoeing 28 years later.
One member of that team that did compete was Benjamin Spock, who turned out to be arguably the most famous yet controversial , baby doctor in the world.
The US won 45 Gold and 99 overall medals, easily outdistancing the others.
This also turned out to be De Coubertin's last Olympics.