London Weekend Break

The Olympics in London – A Potted History

London originally played host to the Olympics in the summer of 1908. The games had originally been awarded to Rome but due to the unfortunate eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 1906 the Italian Government took the decision to use the money they had set aside for the Olympics to help the people affected by the volcano’s eruption. The Olympics were then transferred to London where 22 nations took part. As the British government didn’t have much time to build new venues various existing stadia and sporting clubs were used including the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, known around the world as Wimbledon, which will again be used in 2012. The only new stadium to be built was the Olympic Stadium now known as White City.

For information concerning 2012 London Olympic venues please refer to the pages below.
• Olympic venues - page 1
• Olympic venues - page 2
• Olympic venues - page 3

In 1908 the following sports were contested:

• Archery
• Athletics
• Boxing
• Cycling
• Diving
• Fencing
• Figure Skating – now part of the winter Olympics
• Football
• Gymnastics
• Hockey
• Jeu de Paume – known as Real Tennis in the UK
• Lacrosse
• Polo
• Rackets – Similar to the game of squash
• Rowing
• Rugby Union
• Sailing
• Shooting
• Tennis
• Tug of war
• Water Motorsports – the one and only time motorised boats were used as an Olympic sport
• Water Polo
• Wrestling

London was again to play host to the summer Olympics in 1944 but due to the outbreak of World War Two the games had to be cancelled. They were however reinstated in London in 1948 and became known as the Austerity Games as Great Britain was suffering post war rationing. Because of the war Germany and Japan were not invited to take part.

The main bulk of the sports including athletics were hosted in the impressive Wembley Stadium and other venues included Highbury, White Hart Lane, Earls Court and Windsor Great Park. Because of the rationing no new venues were built but were adapted to suit the sport that was to take place there.

In 1948 a then record 59 nations took part and contested the following sports:

• Athletics
• Basketball
• Boxing
• Canoeing
• Cycling
• Diving
• Equestrian
• Fencing
• Field Hockey
• Football
• Gymnastics
• Lacrosse
• Modern Pentathlon
• Rowing
• Sailing
• Shooting
• Swimming
• Water Polo
• Weightlifting
• Wrestling

1948 also marked the first time that an Olympics event was televised.

In 2005 London were again awarded the honour of hosting the summer Olympics and building is nearly complete on the Olympic Park in Stratford East London.

At the moment 126 nations have qualified to take part but there could be at least 204 nations participating in total.

These athletes will be contesting the following sports:

• Archery
• Artistic Gymnastics
• Athletics
• Badminton
• Basket Ball
• Boxing
• Canoeing – Sprint and Slalom
• Cycling – BMX, Mountain Biking, Road and Track
• Diving
• Equestrian
• Fencing
• Field Hockey
• Football
• Handball
• Judo
• Modern Pentathlon
• Rhythmic Gymnastics
• Rowing
• Sailing
• Shooting
• Swimming
• Synchronised Swimming
• Table Tennis
• Taekwondo
• Tennis
• Trampoline
• Triathlon
• Volleyball – both indoor and Beach Volleyball
• Water Polo
• Weightlifting
• Wrestling