Britain and the Olympic Games, 1908-1920 focuses upon the presentation and descriptions of identity that are presented through the depictions of the Olympics in the national press. This book breaks Britain down into its four nations and presents the debates that were present within their national press.

Britain and the Olympic Games, 1908-1920 focuses upon the presentation and descriptions of identity that are presented through the depictions of the Olympics in the national press. This book breaks Britain down into its four nations and presents the debates that were present within their national press.

In the summer that saw the first successful flight of the Zeppelin, a 140 acre site of scrubland in West London was transformed into the White City, which housed the 1908 Franco-British Exhibition - and a state-of-the-art stadium built to house the first London Olympics. The Olympics were organised by volunteers in just 18 months and at a fraction of the cost of the modern Olympics and yet, just as today, the sport was overshadowed by doping scandals and caused international uproar. The ferocious competitiveness of a US team dominated by New York Irish Americans led to a succession of 'scandals' culminating in the historic marathon when Italian confectioner baker Dorando Pietri's heroic efforts at the limits of exhaustion so entranced on-lookers that track officials helped him across the finish line. Coinciding with the 100th Anniversary of the first London Olympics, this delightful social and sporting history - illustrated with over 70 contemporary images - provides a thought-provoking contrast to the forthcoming 2012 Olympic Games.

Details the first London Olympics when the Games were awarded to the UK after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 1906 stopped them going to Rome, as funds for building Olympic facilities were diverted to Naples to help rebuild the city. Author Keith Baker concentrates on the important controversies, especially those with the Americans, notably the 400m, the Tug of War and the Marathon. He also highlights the lives of some of the great competitors and personalities who made the event unique. Will appeal to all serious sports fans as well as British history students.

The 1908 Olympic Games were controversial. There was almost constant bickering among the American team and the British officials. Because of the controversies, the 1908 Olympics have been termed "The Battle of Shepherd's Bush," referring to the site of the Olympic Stadium. Reports of the 1908 Olympics have been rare and do not for instance contain full results for archery, track and field athletics, football (soccer), gymnastics, motorboating and shooting. A great deal of new information has been discovered by the authors, and this work gives complete results for all events. The information presented is based primarily on 1908 sources. For the first time, definitive word on the sites, dates, events, competitors, and nations as well as the event results are available for all of the 1908 Olympic events, including boxing, cycling, diving, fencing, field hockey, lacrosse, polo, raquets, swimming, lawn tennis, tug-of-war, weightlifting, wrestling and yachting, among other sports. A series of appendices include rarely seen information about the many controversies surrounding the Games.

Until this volume was compiled, the results of the 1920 Olympics held in Antwerp, Belgium, have been far from complete. The Antwerp organizing committee typed up a report of the results almost as an afterthought because it was so financially strapped after the games. For some events only the medalists are listed, with little, if any, additional information. Very few copies were ever produced, and those few copies were in French. The seventh in a series on the early Olympics, this work fills a gap in the recording of early Olympics history by providing complete results for all competitors and all events (except for shooting, which has only partial information available). In virtually all cases, a 1920 source has been used in preference to a more modern source of information, and all details have been fully researched in contemporary newspapers, journals, and magazines and checked for accuracy by experts on various sports from all over the world.