This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (August 2008) Games of the III Olympiad Host city St. Louis, Missouri, USA Nations participating 12 Athletes participating 651 Events 91 in 17 sports Opening ceremony July 1 Closing ceremony November 23 Officially opened by David Francis Stadium Francis Field The 1904 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the III Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event which was celebrated in St. Louis, Missouri, in the United States from 1 July 1904, to November 23, 1904, at what is now known as Francis Field on the campus of Washington University in St. Louis.1 Contents 1 Background 2 The Games 2.1 Highlights 2.1.1 Marathon 2.2 Sports 3 Venues 4 Participating nations 4.1 Disputed 5 Medal count 6 See also 7 Notes 8 References 9 External links // Background The city of Chicago, Illinois, had won the original bid to host the 1904 Summer Olympics, but the organizers of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis would not accept another international event in the same time frame. The exposition organization began to plan for its own sports activities, informing the Chicago OCOG that its own international sports events intended to eclipse the Olympic Games unless they were moved to St. Louis. Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympic movement, gave in and awarded the games to St. Louis. The Games

St. Louis organizers repeated the mistakes made at the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris. Competitions were reduced to a side-show of the World's Fair and were lost in the chaos of other, more popular cultural exhibits. David Francis, the President of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, declined to invite anybody else to open the Games and, on July 1 did so himself in a scaled-down short and humdrum "ceremony". The Games were so poorly run that, as a result, the Olympic movement almost came to an end. Officially, the games lasted for four and a half months; in fact, James Edward Sullivan tried to hold an event every day for the duration of the fair. The Olympic caliber events were again mixed with other sporting events, but whereas Paris hardly ever mentioned them, Sullivan called all his sports events "Olympic." The IOC later declared that 94 of these events were Olympic. The participants totaled 651 athletes - 645 men and 6 women representing 12 countries. However, only 42 events (less than half) actually included athletes who were not from the United States. The actual athletics events that formed the bulk of the recognized Olympic sports were held from Monday, August 29 to Saturday, September 3. Highlights Felix Carvajal on his way / St. Louis Olympic's Marathon European tension caused by the Russo-Japanese War and the difficulty of getting to St. Louis kept many of the world's top athletes away. In a number of sports, because there were no competitors from other nations, the U.S. national championship was combined with the Olympic championship (and other events such as a local YMCA swim competition). Boxing, dumbbells, freestyle wrestling and the decathlon made their debuts. The swimming events were held in a temporary pond near Skinker and Wydown Boulevards, where "lifesaving demonstrations" took place of unsinkable lifeboats for ocean liners. The organizers of the World's Fair held "Anthropology Days" on August 12 and 13. Various indigenous men from around the world, who were at the World's Fair as part of the Department of Ethnology exhibits, competed in various events for anthropologists to see how they compared to the white man.

One of the most remarkable athletes was the American gymnast George Eyser, who won six medals even though his left leg was made of wood. Chicago runner Jim Lightbody won the steeplechase and the 800 m and then set a world record in the 1500 m. Harry Hillman won both the 200 m and 400 m hurdles and also the flat 400 m. Sprinter Archie Hahn was champion in the 60 m, 100 m and 200 m. In this last race, he set an Olympic record in 21.6, a record that stood for 28 years. In the discus, after American Martin Sheridan had thrown exactly the same distance as his compatriot, Ralph Rose (39.28 m), the judges gave them both an extra throw to decide the winner. Sheridan won the decider and claimed the gold medal. Ray Ewry again won all three standing jumps. The team representing Great Britain was awarded a total of two medals, both won by Irish athletes. The top non-USA athlete was Emil Rausch of Germany, who won three swimming events. Zoltan Halmay of Hungary and Charles Daniels of the United States each won two swimming gold medals. Galt Football Club from Canada won the gold medal in football. Marathon The marathon was the most bizarre event of the Games. It was run in brutally hot weather, over dusty roads, with horses and automobiles clearing the way and creating dust clouds. The first to arrive at the finish line was Frederick Lorz, who actually was just trotting back to the finish line to retrieve his clothes, after dropping out after nine miles. When the officials thought he had won the race, Lorz played along with his practical joke until he was found out shortly after the medal ceremony and was banned for a year by the AAU for this stunt, later winning the 1905 Boston Marathon.2 Hicks and his supporters at the marathon

Thomas Hicks (a Briton running for the United States) was the first to cross the finish-line legally, after having received several doses of strychnine sulfate mixed with brandy from his trainers. He was supported by his trainers when he crossed the finish, but is still considered the winner. Hicks had to be carried off the track, and possibly would have died in the stadium, had he not been treated by several doctors. A Cuban postman named Felix Carbajal joined the marathon, arriving at the last minute. He had to run in street clothes that he cut around the legs to make them look like shorts. He stopped off in an orchard en route to have a snack on some apples, which turned out to be rotten. The rotten apples caused him to have to lie down and take a nap. Despite falling ill to apples he finished in fourth place.2 The marathon included the first two black Africans to compete in the Olympics; two Tswana tribesmen named Len Tau (real name: Len Taunyane) and Yamasani (real name: Jan Mashiani). But they weren't there to compete in the Olympics, they were actually the sideshow. They had been brought over by the exposition as part of the Boer War exhibit (both were really students from Orange Free State in South Africa, but this fact was not made known to the public). Len Tau finished ninth and Yamasani came in twelfth. This was a disappointment, as many observers were sure Len Tau could have done better if he had not been chased nearly a mile off course by aggressive dogs.2

Arriving without correct documents, French man Arthur Coray was not included as part of the French team.2 He is inconsistently listed as performing in a mixed team in the four mile team race and performing for the US in the marathon.2 Sports A tug-of-war competition at the 1904 Summer Olympics. 18 disciplines, comprising 16 sports, were part of the Olympic program in 1904. Aquatics: Diving Aquatics: Swimming Aquatics: Water polo Archery Athletics Boxing Cycling Fencing Football (Soccer) Golf Gymnastics Lacrosse Roque Rowing Tennis Tug of war Weightlifting Wrestling Basketball was featured as a demonstration sport. Baseball was featured as a demonstration sport. Venues Main article: Venues of the 1904 Summer Olympics Creve Coeur Lake - Rowing Francis Field - Archery, Athletics, Cycling, Football, Gymnastics, Lacrosse, Roque, Tennis, Tug of war, Weightlifting, and Wrestling Francis Gymnasium - Boxing, Fencing Forest Park - Diving, Swimming, and Water polo. Glen Echo Country Club - Golf Participating nations Participants Athletes from only twelve nations competed in St. Louis. Numbers in parentheses indicate the number of known competitors for each nation. Since the Russo-Japanese War caused European tensions and the difficulty of getting to St. Louis, only 55 athletes from outside of North America came to the Olympics. Australia (2) Austria (2) Canada (52) Cuba (3) France (1) Germany (17) Great Britain (3) Greece (14) Hungary (4) South Africa (8) Switzerland (1) United States (523) Disputed

Some sources also list athletes from the following nations as having competed at these Games. Italy [1] Norway[2]  Newfoundland [3] Medal count Main article: 1904 Summer Olympics medal table The Silver Medal of the games for the 800m run.  Rank  Nation Gold Silver Bronze Total 1  United States (USA) (host nation) 78 82 79 239 2  Germany (GER) 4 4 5 13 3  Cuba (CUB) 4 2 3 9 4  Canada (CAN) 4 1 1 6 5  Hungary (HUN) 2 1 1 4 6  Great Britain (GBR) 1 1 0 2  Mixed team (ZZX) 1 1 0 2 8  Greece (GRE) 1 0 1 2  Switzerland (SUI) 1 0 1 2 9  France (FRA) 0 * 0 * 10  Austria (AUT) 0 0 1 1 See also Olympics portal Olympic games celebrated in the United States 1904 Summer Olympics – St. Louis 1932 Summer Olympics – Los Angeles 1932 Winter Olympics – Lake Placid 1960 Winter Olympics – Squaw Valley 1980 Winter Olympics – Lake Placid 1984 Summer Olympics – Los Angeles 1996 Summer Olympics – Atlanta 2002 Winter Olympics – Salt Lake City Summer Olympic Games Olympic Games International Olympic Committee List of IOC country codes Notes ^ Christen, Barbara S.; Steven Flanders (November 2001). Cass Gilbert, Life and Work: Architect of the Public Domain. W. W. Norton & Company. pp. 257. ISBN 978-0393730654. http://books.google.com/books?id=_a7CkRmc8oIC&pg=PA257&dq=%221904+Summer+Olympics%22&ei=7yVMSIqCMIfQigGW-t3OCg&sig=t_bej9ZBdpnb7NbiOeL73TvdAQc. Retrieved 2008-06-08.  ^ a b c d e Cronin, Brian (2010-08-10). "Sports Legend Revealed: A marathon runner nearly died". Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles). http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/sports_blog/2010/08/sports-legend-revealed-a-marathon-runner-nearly-died-because-of-drugs-he-took-to-help-him-win.html.  References "St Louis 1904". Olympic.org. International Olympic Committee. http://www.olympic.org/en/content/Olympic-Games/All-Past-Olympic-Games/Summer/St-Louis-1904.  "All the Medallists since 1896". Olympic.org. International Olympic Committee. http://www.olympic.org/en/content/All-Olympic-results-since-1896/?AthleteName=&Games=1333722&Country=&Sport=&TargetResults=true&resultsPageIPP=30.  The Olympic Games 1904, Charles J.P. Lucas Spalding's Athletic Almanac for 1905 External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to: 1904 Summer Olympics "St Louis 1904". Olympic.org. International Olympic Committee. http://www.olympic.org/en/content/Olympic-Games/All-Past-Olympic-Games/Summer/St-Louis-1904.  Competitions on Anthropology Days the memory palace podcast episode about 1904 olympic marathon Preceded by Paris Summer Olympic Games St. Louis III Olympiad (1904) Succeeded by London

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