The Olympics in 1908 and 1948

The Olympics in London in 1908 In 1908 London stood as Host City in for Rome after an eruption of Mount Vesuvius. It was elected out of three candidates, Berlin and Milan as the other two, and the games were held in White City Stadium.

The Olympics in London in 1908 The White City Stadium   Originally as The Great Stadium was built in very short time and especially for the games in   The stadium was constructed to seat people and was considered a technological marvel.   It is viewed as the first modern-seater stadium but could hold more than with large swathes of terracing.

The Olympics in London in 1908 New things in 1908   At a ceremony at the start of the Games athletes paraded under their national flag.   The Marathon was fixed at km – the distance from Windsor Castle to the Royal Box in the Olympic Stadium. There were athletes from 22 countries competing in 22 sports.

The Olympics in London in 1908 Several complications in arrangement   The Finnish team were expected to march under the Russian flag rather than the Finnish flag, so it chose to march without a flag at all.   Irish athletes were compelled to compete for the British team, so many of them withdrew.   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 US flag had also not been displayed above the stadium before the opening so the US' 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."

The Olympics in London in 1908 Some more rather funny facts   The 400 metre run was re-run because the US winner was accused of interfering British runner. Part of the problem was the different definition of interference under the British and US rules. But the Americans refused to participate, so the British runner, Wyndham Halswelle, won by running around the track on his own because three of the four original runners had been Americans.   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 an 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, the next day Queen Alexandra awarded him a gold cup in recognition of his achievement.

The Olympics in London in 1948 At first, London was given the 1944 Games, ahead of Budapest, Lausanne, Helsinki and Athens. But then the Second World War stopped the plans and after that London hosted the Games of The main stadium was then switched from White City to Wembley.

The Olympics in London in 1948 Wembley Stadium   First known as the British Empire Exhibition Stadium or simply Empire Stadium.   Was built by Sir Robert McAlpine for the British Empire Exhibition in 1923 and originally intended to be demolished at the end of the Exhibition, it was saved at the suggestion of the chairman of the organising committee for the Empire Exhibition.   Its official capacity was people, but during its first event, it had an overflown amount of people in it.   It was closed in 2000 and demolished in Now there is new Wembley Stadium in site of the old one.

The Olympics in London in 1948 New things in 1948   Games were shown on home television.   Starting blocks and photo-finishes for Sprint races were used.   Volunteer Programme was created to help run the Games. There were competitors from 59 countries and they contested in 33 athletic events: 24 for men and 9 for women. Four of those making their Olympic debut.

Made by Kait Kosenkranius 2009 Thank You for Your time! The Olympics in London in 1948 Some facts about the 1948 Games   The star of the Games – Fanny Blankers-Koen from Netherlands won 4 medals in the 100m, 200m, 80m hurdles and ran the anchor leg on the Netherlands women’s winning 4x110 yards relay team.   Many countries, including Burma, Ceylon, Lebanon, Puerto Rico, Syria and Venezuela, were represented for the first time. On the other hand, there were no athletes from Japan, Germany nor the USSR.