Olympic games 1908 london
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The 1908 Olympic Games were originally scheduled to be hosted by Rome, but the 1906 eruption of Mount Vesuvius caused the Games to be relocated to London.
These Games were much better organized than the previous regularly scheduled Olympic Games (they were even the first to have an opening ceremony), yet they were marred by politics and nationalism. Britain's recent refusal to give Ireland its independence caused Irish athletes to boycott the Games and caused contestants from the U.S to not dip the American flag to the British royalty during the opening ceremony (a tradition the U.S. continues to this day).
There was also controversy over the 400-meter final heat. As four runners came into the final stretch, W.C. Robbins (U.S.) was first, followed by J.C. Carpenter (U.S.), with British Wyndham Halswelle coming in third, and followed by a fourth runner from the U.S. As Carpenter and Halswelle (second and third runners) swung out to pass Robbins, someone shouted "Foul!" Though Carpenter (the U.S. runner who had been in second) finished first, with Robbins (U.S.) in second, and Halswelle (U.K.) in third, the British officials accused Carpenter of blocking and elbowing Halswelle and voided the whole race. The race was ordered to be rerun, but since the American runners refused to redo the race, Halswelle ran the race all by himself to win the gold.
It was in the 1908 Olympic Games that the exact distance of a marathon was established as 26 miles and 365 yards. Diving was added to the events for this year.
Approximately 2,000 athletes participated, representing 22 countries.
The winners of this Olympic Games were in first position, the host nation, Great Britain with 146 medals. In the second position the United States of America with 47 medals and in third position Sweeden with 25 medals. Spain didn't participate in this Olympic Games.
HEAR YOU HAVE SOME RELEVANT ATHLETES
Oscar Swahn from Sweeden, 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 279days old during his triumph at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp, Belgium.
John Taylor was a member of the winning medley relay team, making him the first African-American athlete to win an Olympic gold medal. Times for the winning team were United States (3:29.4):
- William Hamilton (200 m at 22.0)
- Nathaniel Cartmell (200 at 22.2)
- John Taylor (400 m at 49.8)
- Melvin Sheppard (800 metres at 1:55.4)
Tragicallly, Taylor died on December 2, 1908, after his return to the United States, much regretted by all who met him.
Showing the greates sportsmanship, the end of Greco-Roman middleweight among swedish Frithiof Martensson and Mauritz Andersson was postponed to Martensson could recover from a wound. Martensson who was eventually won.
Ray Ewry won the high jump for the third time becoming the only athlete in Olympic history to have won eight individual goldmedals at the time.
The archer William Dod and her sister Charlotte Dod became the first brother and sister medalists.
