Pierre De Coubertin revived the modern Olympic Games in 1896 as a display of amateur athletics and sporting skill. The games seemed popular at first and new installments took place in 1900 and 1904. The event was planned to take place in 1908 again but never came to fruition nor any other subsequent games. A lot of people blame the sudden change of the host cities from Chicago to St. Louis in 1904. The switch was made as the people organizing the World's Fair also in St. Louis at the same time didn't want any competition from another international event and threatened to host there own games. Pierre De Coubertin Chairman of the Olympics reluctantly changed the cities but refused to attend. Feeling a mediocre city would host a mediocre games. In 1900 the Paris Games were also overshadowed by a World's Fair.
The AAU was the organizing body behind the sporting events and right from the start they botched it. Scheduling a game or tournament for everyday of the 7 month long fair. This confused people as to what was an official Olympic Event or just a demonstration of a particular sport causing light attendance. Some of these events were pretty sketchy as they were called Anthropology Days and seemed to exploit ethnic and national minorities by having them compete in games like spear hurling, primitive archery, mud throwing, pole climbing. As if they were a side tent in a freak show.
Then there were the scandals. The water polo event took place at the same time as an agricultural demonstration at different sides of the lake. Livestock was allowed to enter the water and due to this the water became toxic and four athletes died of typhus inside the year as a result. The marathon course was so brutal that only 14 of the 32 participants completed it with only one water break at the 11th mile an act of deliberate dehydration. Controversially the winning runner Thomas Hicks was basically carried over the finish line his legs still moving as he did so. South African runner Len Tau was chased by a pack of feral dogs at one point. Athletes cited all these things and refused to compete in 1908 choosing to compete in their national contests instead. We didn't get an international sporting convention again until United Nations sponsored International Games in 1950.
Do you think the Olympics could have been saved in some way? Would sticking with the Chicago as the host city have made things better? 1904 was dominated by American and Canadian athletes as St. Louis was considered a far flung wilderness at the time. Did the Olympics add to many events to quickly? How would you save the Olympics? Would the World Wars have doomed the games anyways? Sports used for political gains perhaps?
The AAU was the organizing body behind the sporting events and right from the start they botched it. Scheduling a game or tournament for everyday of the 7 month long fair. This confused people as to what was an official Olympic Event or just a demonstration of a particular sport causing light attendance. Some of these events were pretty sketchy as they were called Anthropology Days and seemed to exploit ethnic and national minorities by having them compete in games like spear hurling, primitive archery, mud throwing, pole climbing. As if they were a side tent in a freak show.
Then there were the scandals. The water polo event took place at the same time as an agricultural demonstration at different sides of the lake. Livestock was allowed to enter the water and due to this the water became toxic and four athletes died of typhus inside the year as a result. The marathon course was so brutal that only 14 of the 32 participants completed it with only one water break at the 11th mile an act of deliberate dehydration. Controversially the winning runner Thomas Hicks was basically carried over the finish line his legs still moving as he did so. South African runner Len Tau was chased by a pack of feral dogs at one point. Athletes cited all these things and refused to compete in 1908 choosing to compete in their national contests instead. We didn't get an international sporting convention again until United Nations sponsored International Games in 1950.
Do you think the Olympics could have been saved in some way? Would sticking with the Chicago as the host city have made things better? 1904 was dominated by American and Canadian athletes as St. Louis was considered a far flung wilderness at the time. Did the Olympics add to many events to quickly? How would you save the Olympics? Would the World Wars have doomed the games anyways? Sports used for political gains perhaps?