History

Ironically, with World War I only two years away, the 1912 Olympics were the most successful up to that time and they were distinguished by a high level of international amity. The Swedish organizers benefited from their observation of British organizational methods and from a full four years of preparation.

There were no important arguments or protests. In fact, for the first time it seemed that an Olympic community was genuinely taking shape. Many of the athletes had met in 1908, and they fraternized happily together. It was commonplace, after a medal event, for winners and losers to embrace in congratulation and commiseration. Officials from international sports organizations and national teams were also generally well-acquainted with one another, especially since many of them had been involved in regular meetings planning and preparing for the games.

At Stockholm, gymnastics became a major sport, with an astounding 1,275 athletes from 13 countries either competing or giving demonstrations. Swimming, too, was bigger than ever before, with 313 competitors from 18 countries. Both Australia and Japan served notice that they were beginning to produce world-class swimmers.

The 1912 Olympics introduced two technical innovations. For the first time, a public address system kept spectators informed about what was happening and electrical timing was used for running events. This was also notable as the first Olympics to draw extensive, front-page newspaper coverage in the United States.

The only real problems were that boxing was dropped from the program because it was illegal in Sweden, and freestyle wrestling was also dropped because the sport was unknown to the Swedes. The IOC took over the responsibility of determining which sports would be on the Olympic program after 1912.

The modern pentathlon, a new event created specifically for the Olympics at the urging of Coubertin, was added in 1912. Equestrian competition was another new sport, and there were two women's events for the first time.

Hannes Kohlemainen of Finland was the top track and field athlete, winning gold medals in the 5,000-meter, 10,000-meter and cross-country runs. Finns also won four other track gold medals. Hannes and his brother, Willie Kohlemainen, had spent considerable time in the United States, studying American training methods, and had then helped train other Finnish athletes. Because of their success, several other European countries hired coaches from the United States to help them prepare for future Olympics.

The top U. S. runner was Ralph Craig, who won both sprints, but the great Jim Thorpe was the major story. Thorpe won both the pentathlon and decathlon with ease. "Sir, you are the most wonderful athlete in the world," he was told by the king of Sweden, and Czar Nicholas of Russia sent him the silver model of a Viking ship to reward his performance.

But in January of 1913, Thorpe was ordered to return his medals because it was discovered that he had played semi-pro baseball for $60 a month. The medals were finally returned to his family in 1983, 30 years after Thorpe's death.

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