St. Louis Olympics | 1904

mikebuss | 25/04/2012 | 0 Comments More

The 1904 Games was officially called ‘The Games of The III Olympiad’

The Games were held from July to November in St. Louis, Missouri in the US. But again the 1904 Games was subject to the same curse as the Paris Games, over shadowed by another event ‘The Louisiana Purchase Exposition (also known as the Worlds Fair) which was also being held in Louisiana.

The 1904 Games was actually supposed to be held in Chicargo, but threats from Louisiana about holding their own sporting event to compete with the Chicago Games made Chicargo give in and hand the Games over the St. Louis.

The Louisiana Purchase Exposition over shadowed the Games with its popular cultural exhibits, the President of the Fair Commitee insisted on opening the Games himself in a very low-key affair and there was no closing ceremony. There was also hardly any competitors outside of the US competing at the Games due to the Russo-Japanese War and also getting to the event was very costly.

Even Pierre de Coubertin didnt attend.

As a long distance runner myself running marathons and ultra-marathons, it is the marathon event that really takes my interest…

The Marathon was held on a very hot and humid day which had already reached 90degrees F when the athletes started the 40km route, cars and horses were used to clear the way along the course but just kicked up clouds of dust and only 14 of the 32 competitors actually reached the finish line.

Fredrick Lorz was origionally crowned the winner of the marathon but quickley disqualified after it became apparent that he pulled out after just 9miles and getting into a car before being dropped off 5miles short of the finishline.

The Winners medal was eventually given to British-Born Thomas Hicks running for the US.

Facts:

Host City – St. Louis, Missouri, USA
US Team finished the Games with 78 Gold Medals, 82 Silver Medals, 79 Bronze Medals. The second place team, Germany gained 4 Gold Medals, 4 Silver Medals, 5 Bronze medals. Great Britain came 6th at the Games with 1 Gold Medal, 1 Silver Medal, 0 Bronze Medals.
Only 12 Nations took part
651 athletes participated (645 men and 6 women)
Events Organised: 16 Sports and 91 Events.
First Olympics to hand out Gold, Silver, Bronze Medals