1912 Olympic Games Official Report Part 2

as far as regards the number of competitors present, at least. SeveralEuropean nations sent representatives, but most of the athletes takingpart in the Games were from the U. S. A. It is stated that no lessthan 390 competitions were held, of which only 14 were won byothers than representatives of the U. S. A.Athens 1906.At the Games of Paris and S:t Louis the mistake had been committedof holding the competitions through the course of an entiresummer. In Athens, in 1906, on the other hand, they were given avery concentrated form, all the competitions taking place within thelimit of 14 days, and an attempt had been made to so arrange thecompetitions that those wishing to do so could attend everyone of them,and so that, while a competition was going on in the Stadium, no otherevent should be held anywhere else. The rowing-, swimming-, shooting-,fencing-, lawn tennis-, and football competitions, however, hadto be arranged at various places within and outside the city.The Athenian meeting of 1906 had that festive stamp which, amongall the modern Games hitherto held, had marked none but those celebratedat the capital of Greece; ten years before. It was estimated that,during the Games, the ordinary population of Athens was increasedby 100,000 souls, the total number of foreigners being about 40,000.The Stadium, which can contain 50,000 spectators, was occupied tothe last place, and outside the doors stood tens of thousands of persons,wishing, but unable, to obtain admission. These Games of Athensmark the beginning of the outburst of enthusiasm for the athleticmovement which found such perfect expression in the Games of London,in 1908, and of Stockholm, in 1912.The order of merit in the field and track events, as decided bythe number of prizes won at the Games of Athens, in 1906 was:U. S. A., 21; Sweden, 11; Great Britain, 9; Greece, 4; Hungary, 4;Australia, 2; Canada, 2; Germany 2; Belgium 1; Finland, 1; France 1.London 1908.The Fourth Olympiad, held in London in 1908, embraced 109 competitions,divided into two classes: “Summer Sports and Winter Sports”.These Games showed an enormous increase in the number of activecompetitors, no less than 2,666 athletes taking part in the variousevents; 2,184 in the summer competitions, and 482 in the wintersports, these numbers representing 22 nations.The best ten nations in the Fourth Olympiad were: Great Britain,131 1 /6 ; U. S. A., 44 1 /3 ; Sweden, 23 1/3; France, 16’/~; Canada, I 2’J3;Germany, 9½; Hungary 7 x/3; Norway, 8; Italy, 4; Belgium 6 points.It is now impossible to obtain complete lists of results of thepreceding Olympiads, so that, for the sake of comparison, thefollowing table of results obtained at previous Olympic Games includesmerely field and track events (pure athletics), and the competitionsmost nearly allied to them, and of which reliable lists of resultsstill exist, while a second table is appended, giving the presentOlympic Records.847