KIN 2501 FINAL EXAM NOTES INTERNATIONAL SPORTS IN THE 20TH CENTURY CHAPTER 15 BEGINNING OF MODERN OLYMPICS o 1896 the first modern Olympics was started IMPORTANT DATE Held in Athens Greece Was supposed to be an international sporting event 7 sports track field swimming gymnastics cycling fencing shooting and tennis Track and field was the largest Most athletes traveled alone instead of on teams but the U S team had 13 athletes Most of these athletes were students from Princeton that also belonged to the Boston Athletic Club There were 10 athletes for track and field 2 athletes for pistol shooting and 1 athlete for swimming Track and field opened the games and the very first event that was won was a field event the triple jump It was won by James Connely in 1896 The U S dominated in track and field because they won all but two events Pierre deCoubertin 28 year old French promoter of physical education and spot He organized a successful sport festival in France and began to tour Europe and North America in an attempt to promote Olympic rebirth He found a Greek philanthropist who donated 360 000 equivalent of 1 million in French dollars to build a stadium The Greek government also contributed money by raising funds through ticket sales medals and souvenirs deCoubertin also created the International Olympic Committee IOC o 1st marathon The idea of this came from a story in Greek history In 490 BC the Greek army defeated the Persians in a place called Marathon A Greek soldier was ordered to run from where the fight ended to Athens for a distance of about 25 miles with the news that the Greeks had won the fight When he arrived he said Rejoice We Conquer then died The first marathon was 25 miles but today it has been extended to 26 2 miles o Sports were popular Baseball was played at the professional level basketball and volleyball were still spreading football was played at the college level and tennis and golf were played by the wealthy and by private clubs lasted about 5 months todays events last about 2 weeks 1 100 athletes participated deCoubertin thought that he would have a little more power but he was just the secretary of the track and field events He was not a supporter for women s sports but women were allowed to compete in tennis and golf o 1904 Saint Lewis MS Only about half of the athletes from the first Olympic Games participated for a total of about 500 Most avoided the games completely OLYMPIC GAMES o 1900 Paris The games last 121 146 days 4 5 months Games were still not considered international o 1906 Athens Greece anniversary of the original games o 1908 London Games survived because the interim games were created to celebrate the 10th At the time Finland part of Russia and Ireland part of England wanted to appear under their own flag This was the first year that athletes marched into the stadium as a team It was normal for the host country to create their own rules so Finland and Ireland were forced to come in under the original flag This created controversy International Sport Federation created due to the controversy only the people that joined this federation abided by a universal set of rules Distance for the marathon changed from 25 miles to 26 2 miles because the King of England wanted to watch the race from his palace The distance from the stadium to Windsor Court what 26 2 miles o Far Eastern Games Tour de France Davis Cup There were a number of world championships that began to offshoot from the Olympics The Davis Cup was for tennis and the Tour de France was the major international event in road cycling o 1912 Stockholm There were about 2 000 athletes at this event It was very well organized and there was a growing interest in keeping the Olympics and international sports alive Women participated in swimming for the first time and there is evidence that countries had a selection of a national team try outs Athletes also began to do special training for the games Pentathlon consisted of 5 events which came from a story that tells about the hardships of a French messenger These events included fencing pistol shooting a 30 meter swim a cross country race and cross country riding Jim Thorpe A Native American who became and icon for the Olympic Games He was nicknamed Wa Tho Huk which translated to bright path He grew up in Pennsylvania with an alcoholic father and was eventually sent to a boarding school called Carlisle He was able to do things without special training that other students were not capable of with extensive training He stayed at this school throughout his college career and engaged in sports such as football and track and field He left Carlisle for some time and played minor league baseball and then went back to Carlisle to play football He went to the 1912 Olympics and won the first pentathlon and decathlon He was told by the King of Sweden that he was the greatest athlete in the world From then on he was recognized as the greatest athlete He played 6 years MLB and professional football for several years after being named All American The U S Olympic Committee striped him of his Olympic medals because he was not an amateur athlete when he played the games because he had received money for playing sports The committee used him to make a strong point about the difference between amateur and professional sport He died in 1953 and was voted the most outstanding athlete of the first half of the 20th century in 1950 After his daughter Grace work for many years the medals were returned to the family in 1984 o 1916 games cancelled due to WWI They were supposed to be held in Berlin INTERNATIONAL SPORTS BETWEEN THE WORLD WARS o 1918 Post WWI o 1920 Antwerp Belgium Competitions in 24 sports in the Inter Allied games USA vs French initiative These games were held in Paris and were created to be international games City suffered devastation from the world war so there were no elaborate stadiums Germany and its allies were denied participation because of the war 2 big innovations Olympic flag was flown for the first time approved as a flag in 1914 Athletes must take an oath which was done by 1 representative of the country This began because of Jim Thorpe o 1924 Paris deCoubertin requested that the games be held in Paris because he was about to retire This was the second time that the games were held in Paris and there were more than 3 000 athletes They set aside a week for the winter Olympics This was a major innovation There were no German athletes that