International Sports in the 20th Century 12 04 2014 BEGINNING OF MODERN OLYMPICS 1896 1st modern Olympics o Held in Athens Greece o International sporting event through Pierre DeCoubertin Strong advocate of physical sport French Successfully organized Sports Festival Got Greek philanthropist to donate one million droplets currency at the time o 7 sports and 8 countries participated o Track field major sport First event triple jump won by James Conolloy TEST US won all but two events o Traveled as individuals 13 athletes mainly from colleges Princeton 1st marathon o Same place as first modern Olympics o Comes from a story in 490 BC when the Greek army defeated the Persians in a place called Marathon Phidippides Greek soldier was ordered to run the news to Athens 25 miles said Rejoice we have conquered and then he died o Marathon 26 2 1908 distance changed to 26 2 miles because the king of England wanted it to pass his palace o Spiridon Louis won the first event first marathon OLYMPIC GAMES Creation of International Sport Federations 1908 Pierre DeCoubertin There started to be a lot of world championships in sports o Far Eastern games Davis Cup and Tour de France 1900 o Paris Pierre wanted it in his country Pierre thought he would have power but he was basically the track secretary writing down times and stuff He was not a supporter of women s sports and believed they were against the laws of nature Women did compete and gold and tennis o Not well attended o Lasted about 5 months too long o 1100 athletes 1904 o St Louis MI o Not well attended Didn t know if the games would last at this point o Lasted about 7 months o A lot of countries avoided these games completely Around 500 athletes no one came over to US o Positive women were allowed to participate in sports DeCoubertin did not agree with women participating at competitive level 1906 not an Olympics o Olympic movement was saved o 10 year anniversary of modern Olympics Did not call games the Olympics Interim Games o Held a staged games in Athens in honor of the Olympics 1908 o London o At the time Finland part of Russian empire and Ireland part of British empire wanted to appear under their OWN flag First time countries came in representing their own flags Political controversy England wanted Ireland to come in with their flag They formed an international federation for the sports and only those sports that were involved in the federation o Marathon distance was changed from 25 miles to 26 2 miles Because the king of England wanted the marathon route to go in front of Wisner Palace so he could watch it Added miles to the previous 25 miles 1912 o Stockholm o Very well attended o Over 2000 participants growing interest in international sport o Introduction of the modern pentathlon 5 events DeCoubertin started this Sports Cross country riding on horse fencing pistol shooting swimming 300m cross country road race 2 3 miles Held over one day now o Jim Thorpe Native American Very important athlete at turn of the century Indian Name Wa Tho Huk At early age sent off to boarding school bright path Carlisle housed children from very young age elementary school all the way through college Pop Warner o Football coach at Carlisle when Jim Thorpe was playing Lived in Pennsylvania Alcoholic father Left Carlisle to play minor league baseball Carlisle and was an All American and then came back to United States Olympic Committee stripped him of his Olympic medals because they didn t consider him to be an amateur athlete he played minor league baseball over the summer and received compensation most outstanding athlete In 1984 they returned his stolen medals back to his family His daughter fought with the US Olympic Committee o 1916 Scheduled for Berlin Middle of WWI Olympics were cancelled this year in Berlin because of the war going on Creation of International Sport Federations World championships in sports o Weightlifting tennis ice hockey Far Eastern games Davis Cup Tour de France o Davis Cup tennis o Tour de France cycling race Started in 1903 o Far Eastern Games made games international INTERNATIONAL SPORTS BETWEEN THE WORLD WARS Post WWI 1918 o Competitions in 24 sports in the Inter Allied games American French initiative o 1500 athletes with 18 countries 1920 o Antwerp Belgium o Germany and all of its allies were denied in participation because of the war o Weren t able to build new stadiums o Two good things came out of this The Olympic flag was flown for the first time approved as Olympic flag in 1914 There would now be an oath taken by a representative athlete from each country much like the Greeks did in the early Olympics 1924 o DeCoubertin requested that the Olympic games be held in PARIS Winter Olympics for one week o First ones held in France o No German athletes participated o The French strongly hinted that they wouldn t be able to guarantee the safety of the German athletes so the German athletes decided not to attend the games in Paris o Tennis as a sport was no longer a game in the Olympics at the end of the games 1928 1932 o Women participate in 5 track field events o Los Angeles o Only 1300 athletes competed Europe is still the center for international sports o Photo finish cameras at the finish line and automatic time devices 1936 o Berlin o German government Hitler decided to use the games to demonstrate the supremacy of its political system and the supremacy of the Arian master race IOC did not take a position o Many countries started a boycott movement US Olympic Committee decided by a slim margin decided not to boycott o Games were the most grandiose games out of every other games o Torch relay lights Olympic torch at games to announce the beginning of the games o US sent an athlete named Jessie Owens Soccer World Cup 1930 s Other regional games o 1926 Central American Games o 1934 Western Asian Games o 1930 British Empire Games o 1932 Jewish Olympics JESSE OWENS Buckeye Bullet Born in 1913 in Alabama one of 12 children His family moved to Cleveland Ohio in the early 1920 s o Elementary school teacher misunderstood him and called him Jesse instead of J C James Cleveland In junior high he began organized sport mainly basketball and track In 1930 he was in high school and accomplishing many feats on the track but not a single black college made an attempt to recruit him so he wound up at Ohio State in the fall 1933 o On campus housing was barred for blacks o Only one movie theater was accessible upstairs o No university