newsreel showing highlights from the 1912 Olympics, including
gymnastics,
athletics, and
fencing The Swedish delegation at the IOC meeting in Berlin on 28 May 1909 had proposed a simple Olympic schedule containing only "pure" athletics, swimming, gymnastics and wrestling. However other countries requested that the schedule be more comprehensive, and with that in mind they put forward a further programme at the IOC meeting in 1911 which was met with approval. The sports which were added were the
tug of war, cycling, fencing, football, horse riding, lawn tennis, rowing, shooting, skating and yacht racing. The question of adding skating to the programme was discussed once more on 7 February 1910, with the decision being made to drop it from the schedule. It was felt to be unsuitable because it was a winter sport, and it was to be part of the
Nordic Games the following year.
Art competitions were considered at a further meeting on 14 February 1910,) and
Gotland sports were unofficial demonstration sports. This was also the first year
art competitions were held at the Olympics.
Athletics The athletic events saw the introduction of a fully automatic timing system developed by R. Carlstedt. It involved attaching
electromagnets to
chronometers in a system which attached a control lamp to the starting gun for each race. This resulted in the firing of the gun starting a timer which was then stopped by one of the judges at the finishing line. The final of the
men's 100 metres was expected to be a mostly American affair, and it ended up with six athletes, only one of whom was not from the United States. It suffered from seven false starts before the athletes finally got away, with
Ralph Craig winning the gold medal by in front of second place
Alvah Meyer.
Donald Lippincott won bronze, 15 cm behind the second man.
Shizo Kanakuri, a
Japanese marathon runner, went missing during the race. He lost consciousness by heatstroke and a farming family helped him to stop at a party taking place in a villa on the marathon route in order to quench his thirst, then caught a train to Stockholm and left the country the next day. He returned to Japan without notifying race officials. Fifty years later, after being invited back by the Swedish authorities, he completed the race with an (unofficial) time of 54 years, 8 months, 6 days, 8 hours, 32 minutes and 20.3 seconds.
Portuguese Francisco Lázaro died from
heat exhaustion while running the marathon, the only athlete to die during the running of an Olympic marathon. In addition to the physical toll of the event, the reported split time for the 5 km checkpoint at Stocksund (2:17:20 after a 1:48:00 start) implies an unusually slow 29:20 opening segment, followed by an unrealistically fast 10 km pace. Olympic marathon historian David E. Martin has noted this discrepancy as a likely timing error. American
Jim Thorpe won the
pentathlon and the newly created
decathlon. Thorpe's gold medals were stripped by the
International Olympic Committee in 1913, after the IOC learned that Thorpe had taken expense money for playing baseball, violating contemporary Olympic
amateurism rules, before the 1912 Games. This moved everyone else up in the rankings. In 1982, the IOC was convinced that the disqualification had been improper, as no protest against Thorpe's eligibility had been brought within the required 30 days, and reinstated Thorpe's medals. The replicas were presented to his children in 1983, 30 years after Thorpe's death. Finally, in 2022, the IOC posthumously declared Thorpe as the sole winner of the pentathlon and decathlon events after extensive consultations with his former competitors' families who said they had always viewed Thorpe as the winner. New
Olympic records were set in the majority of track and field events, with only the men's
200 metres,
10 km walk,
standing high jump,
standing broad jump,
hop, step and jump, and the hurdle competitions failing to have new records set.
Tell Berna captured a gold for the 3000m and
Henry S. "Harry" Babcock took gold for the pole vault, setting an Olympic Record at 3.95m.
Hannes Kolehmainen was the most successful in setting records at the games, with new Olympic Records set in the
5,000,
10,000 metre and
cross country races.
Cycling The cycling events at the 1912 Games were limited to a road race around Lake
Mälaren, which had already been a successful route for a yearly cycling race. Although not originally in the schedule, several countries requested that track cycling be added; In addition, Germany had specifically requested Cycle-Polo and Figure-Cycling to be added to the programme, both of which requests were turned down by the committee. It was decided to hold the road race as a time trial, and to outlaw any non-competitive cyclists acting as
pacemakers. The largest group was from Great Britain, who had entered twelve competitors from England, another twelve from Scotland, and a further nine from Ireland. The race began on 7 July, with the athletes leaving in groups. The first group left at 2am, with the remaining groups leaving at intervals of two minutes. The distance raced was , with South African
Rudolph Lewis winning the gold medal in the individual race.
Frederick Grubb of Great Britain won the silver medal, and
Carl Schutte of the United States won the bronze. However, the average positions of the Swedish team were better than their competitors', and so the Swedish team won the gold medal for the team competition. The silver and bronze medals followed the individual victories, going to Great Britain and the United States respectively – giving Grubb and Schutte a second medal each of the same varieties.
Diving All of the medals in the men's competitions were split between the diving teams of the Sweden and Germany. The men's high dive was a Swedish white out, with Swedish divers taking all three medal positions.
Erik Adlerz took the gold medal, and proceeded to take the gold medal for Sweden in the 10 metre platform too.
Albert Zürner took the silver for Germany, and
Gustaf Blomgren won the bronze medal for Sweden. Another white out occurred in the 3 metre springboard with all three medals going to the German team, with
Paul Günther taking gold,
Hans Luber in the silver medal position and
Kurt Behrens in bronze.
Equestrian Equestrian made its first appearance at a modern Olympics in the 1912 Games. The competition was split between the military competitions, prize riding and prize jumping. In the military competition, seven countries put forward competitors for the individual and team eventing. Each nation put forward four athletes with the exception of
Denmark, which only put forward three. Some of the countries also nominated reserves in addition to their main athletes. The total length of the course was with the start and finish both in the grounds of the Field Riding Club. The heat was such on the day of the event that competitors lost as much as in weight. Two additional countries entered for the dressage, although only Sweden entered the maximum number of competitors. The individual show jumping competition was the only individual equestrian event at the 1912 Olympics in which Sweden won no medals, with the gold medal instead going to Cariou of the French to add to his bronze medal from the dressage,
Rabod von Kröcher taking the silver for Germany, and
Emmanuel de Blommaert winning the bronze for
Belgium.
Fencing The foil competition became a full Olympic event, having appeared at the 1908 Games as a demonstration sport.
Nedo Nadi and
Pietro Speciale of Italy took the gold and silver medals respectively, and
Richard Verderber of
Austria placed third. There were individual and team events in both épée and sabre. The épée team event saw
Belgium take the gold medal and Great Britain and the
Netherlands in second and third place respectively. A member of the Belgian team went on to take the individual title as well, with
Paul Anspach taking the gold medal.
Ivan Joseph Martin Osiier of Denmark took the silver medal, and another Belgian who was not in the team event,
Philippe le Hardy de Beaulieu, won the bronze medal. The sabre competition was dominated by the competitors from
Hungary, with their team taking the gold medal over
Austria and the Netherlands. The individual competition saw a shut out by Hungarian athletes with
Jenő Fuchs winning the overall competition,
Béla Békessy in second and
Ervin Mészáros in third.
Football Thirteen countries signalled their intention to enter
football teams for the 1912 Olympics. A standard cup tie system was implemented, with the final deciding the gold and silver medallists and a third/fourth position playoff deciding the bronze medal winner. Only
FIFA affiliated teams were allowed to take part, with the public draw for the tournament taking place on 18 June 1911. The tournament itself started on 29 June. In the first round Finland defeated Italy 3–2, Austria beat Germany 5–1 and the Netherlands emerged victorious over Sweden 4–3. The team from Great Britain, who had won the gold medal at the 1908 Summer Games, were given a bye to the second round, where they faced Hungary and won 7–0. Finland also won their match, defeating Russia 2–1. Denmark matched the British scoreline, winning 7–0 against
Norway, and the Netherlands won against Austria 3–1. The semi final matches pitted Great Britain against Finland, where they won 4–0, and Denmark against the Netherlands, ending in a 4–1 victory for Denmark. The Netherlands won the third/fourth place playoff by the biggest scoreline of the tournament, beating Finland 9–0. Later on the same day the final was played in the Olympic Stadium, where Great Britain retained its gold medal against Denmark in front of 25,000 spectators. Goals from
Harold Walden,
Arthur Berry and two from
Gordon Hoare helped Britain to win by a margin of 4–2.
Gymnastics The gymnastic competition at the 1912 Games featured a
single individual competition and three team events in addition to a variety of displays by the various teams. The Swedish team naturally won the
Gymnastics event of the Swedish system, referred to in the programme as "Team Competition I", with fellow
Scandinavian teams Denmark and Norway taking the second and third positions. The
all around team competition came second, with Italy taking the gold. In addition, one of the Italian team members,
Alberto Braglia, won the individual gold for the same event.
Louis Ségura of the French team won the individual silver, while another member of the Italian team,
Adolfo Tunesi, won the individual bronze. This was another all Scandinavian affair, with the Norwegian team emerging victorious, Finland in second and Denmark in the bronze medal position. It was for these games that the five events of shooting, swimming, equestrian, fencing and cross country running were decided to make up the pentathlon. The competition was spread out across five days from 7 through to 12 July, ending with the cross country race. Only men participated in the event, although a woman named
Helen Preece was briefly enrolled to compete until the organizing committee ultimately denied her entry. For the shooting element, each competitor was allowed to bring their own pistol. The American competitor
George S. Patton (later better known as the
Second World War US Army General) used a .38 caliber
Colt revolver, while the Danish competitors preferred the
Danish Army service pistol, the
Bergmann–Bayard, the Germans and Norwegians used the
Luger P08 pistol and the Swedes used a target practice pistol by
Smith & Wesson. The shooting part of the competition was won by
Gösta Åsbrink, with
Georg de Laval and
Gösta Lilliehöök in second and third place respectively, all three representing Sweden. The swimming event was three lengths, each of , with the athletes split into eight heats and times going forward to calculate positions.
Ralph Clilverd of Great Britain won this event, with
Edmond Bernhardt of Austria in second and de Laval in third. The fencing competition saw each competitor face off against each other. Several opponents were noted for their particular skill in the event with
Åke Grönhagen of Sweden coming first with 24 wins,
Jean de Mas Latrie of France second with 23,
Sidney Stranne of Sweden in third with 21 and Patton of the United States close behind with 20. Thirteen of the competitors cleared the equestrian course without any penalties, with Grönhagen winning the event,
Bror Mannström of Sweden in second and de Laval third. As this was the final event, the winning competitors were announced after the race, with Lilliehöök winning the gold medal, Åsbrink taking silver and de Laval, bronze. The highest placed non-Swedish competitor was Patton, who finished fifth.
Rowing The rowing events at the 1912 Olympics did not prove popular with the public. This was put down to the "fatigue" of the public due to the volume of sporting events. The
eight competition was split into heats, with two teams in each heat. The two British crews were lucky not to be drawn against each other, with the team from
Leander Club facing
New College, Oxford in the final. Leander won by a length with a time of 6:15. The
coxed four followed a similar format to the eights, with the German team from
Ludwigshafener Ruderverein defeating Britain's
Thames Rowing Club in the final. The competition for the
coxed four, inriggers was much smaller, with only four nations competing. The Danish team defeated Sweden in the final. The
single sculls heats proved controversial with the first round race between
Mart Kuusik and
Alfred Heinrich being re-run after a protest by Heinrich. In addition,
Cecil McVilly was disqualified in the first round after colliding with the boat of
Martin Stahnke.
Wally Kinnear of Great Britain defeated
Polydore Veirman of Belgium in the final, with Kinnear winning the matchup easily. The racing itself started the following day with the
12 metre class. There were only three nations and yachts competing in this event, the hosts Sweden, as well as Norway and Finland. The
10 metre class had the same number of countries entering it, although this time Sweden entered two yachts and Russia competed instead of Norway.
Shooting There were eighteen shooting events at the 1912 Olympics, of which eight were team events. The competition was split predominantly into three sections: military rifle shooting, shooting with miniature rifles, pistols and revolvers, and clay bird and running deer shooting. The Swedish and American competitors were the most successful at the competition, with seven gold medals each, although Sweden won a total of seventeen medals while the United States team won fourteen. 64-year-old
Oscar Swahn, part of the Swedish single shot running deer team, is still the oldest gold medal winner in Olympic history.
Swimming In swimming,
Hawaiian
Duke Kahanamoku won the 100 metre freestyle for the United States, who also saw
Harry Hebner win gold in the 100 metre backstroke. The Canadian team also took two gold medals, both by
George Hodgson in the 400 and 1,500 metre events. The German swimming team won all three medals in the 200 metre breaststroke, with the gold going to
Walter Bathe, who won a further gold in the 400 metre breaststroke. The Australasian team was victorious in the men's relay, with the United States finishing in the silver medal position and Great Britain placing third. The 1912 Games saw the implementation of swimming events for women, with the
100 metre freestyle and 400 metre team relay taking place.
Fanny Durack won the individual contest, breaking the world record for the distance in the fourth heat. Her fellow
Australian
Mina Wylie won the silver medal, and
Jennie Fletcher of Great Britain came third to take the bronze medal. The British team had further success in the women's relay, winning the team relay with the German team in second place and the Austrian team in third.
Tennis Tennis on covered courts was agreed initially for the 1912 Games, with competitions run for gentlemen's singles and doubles, ladies' singles, and mixed doubles. The outdoor tournament was confirmed once the Östermalm Athletic Grounds were completed in late 1911, with the plans modified to have both indoor and outdoor tournaments. Six countries sent players for the covered court competitions, with representatives from Sweden, Great Britain, Denmark, France,
Australasia, and
Bohemia appearing. Included in this lineup was Australasia's only competitor,
Anthony Wilding from
New Zealand, who was also the reigning
Wimbledon gentlemen's champion. The indoor knockout competition started on 5 May, and continued as expected until the semi-final round where Wilding was beaten by Britain's
Charles P. Dixon. The British player met Frenchman
André Gobert in the final, but Gobert was victorious over the Englishman in straight sets. Wilding took the bronze medal in a playoff against another British player,
Arthur Lowe. , tennis doubles silver medalist. The outdoors tennis competition saw 70 players enter from 12 nations. However, Great Britain did not enter any competitors as the dates of the outdoor competition clashed with the
1912 Wimbledon Championships, despite attempts by the British authorities to convince the Olympic organizing committee to change the dates. Other noted tennis players refused to compete at the Olympics and instead attended Wimbledon. The gold and silver medals in the gentlemen's singles ended up being decided between two South Africans, with
Charles Winslow and
Harold Kitson playing each other. Winslow won the match and the gold medal, 7–5, 4–6, 10–8, 8–6. The duo also competed as a pair in the gentlemen's doubles and took the gold medal, beating the Austrians
Felix Pipes and
Arthur Zborzil.
Marguerite Broquedis of France defeated
Dorothea Koring of Germany in the ladies' singles for the gold medal. In the mixed doubles Koring teamed up with
Heinrich Schomburgk to win the gold, the duo defeating
Sigrid Fick and
Gunnar Setterwall of Sweden in the final.
Tug of war The tug of war competition was scheduled to take place between 7 and 12 July, with two matches taking place each day. However, out of the five countries which elected to enter the competition, only two actually appeared. Great Britain arrived for its match against Bohemia, but the opposition team was nowhere to be found. Britain was duly declared the winner. The same thing happened once more for the second match, with the Swedish team, made up of policemen from Stockholm, arriving to find that the Austrian team had not arrived. Sweden was announced as the winners of the match in the Austrians' absence. On the second day of the competition, Great Britain took on Sweden, the only occasion where both teams actually turned up for the bout. The British team were made up of the winners of the gold medal in the same event at the 1908 Games, with the exception of
John Sewell and
Mathias Hynes. As the British team also consisted of policemen, the bout ended up effectively being between the
City of London Police and the Stockholm Police, with the Swedish team winning 2–0.
Water polo The water polo tournament was set up on a modified elimination system as there were six teams entered. The first round saw the British team defeating the Belgian team, Sweden defeating the French team and Austria defeating Hungary. Lots were drawn to determine which match would take place in the second round as there were three teams left in the competition. Great Britain were drawn to face Sweden, who they defeated. Austria automatically qualified for the final against the winner of the Britain-Sweden matchup. Great Britain won the gold medal in the event, defeating Austria 8–0. Playoff matches were then played between each pair of defeated teams in order to decide the second and third places. Sweden and Belgium played off after a further three matches to decide the silver and bronze medal positions, with Sweden emerging victorious 4–2.
Wrestling The nations at the 1912 Games entered a total of 267 wrestlers, although the actual competitors who appeared in Sweden were fewer, with 171 actually turning up to compete. The bouts took place in the open air in an area of the Olympic stadium, with the wrestlers split according to weight into five divisions:
featherweight,
lightweight,
middleweight A (later referred to as middleweight),
middleweight B (later referred to as light heavyweight) and
heavyweight. The skills of the competitors from Finland were noted in the featherweight competition, with
Kaarlo Koskelo taking the gold medal, while German
Georg Gerstäcker took silver and a further medal went to Finland with
Otto Lasanen taking bronze. The lightweight class drew the most attention from the public, with
Emil Väre winning gold after beating all of his opponents by pin rather than by points. Swedish wrestlers
Gustaf Malmström and
Edvin Mattiasson took the silver and bronze medals respectively. The light heavyweight competition saw another marathon length match, with the bout between
Anders Ahlgren of Sweden and
Ivar Böhling of Finland for the gold medal lasting more than nine hours. The match was then declared a draw with both athletes being awarded the silver medal as neither won the match.
Yrjö Saarela of Finland was victorious in the heavyweight competition after having placed second in the light heavyweight event at the 1908 Games.
Johan Olin took another medal for Finland with the silver and
Søren Marinus Jensen repeated his bronze medal at the 1908 Olympics with another for Denmark. Events were implemented for literature, sculpture, painting, architecture and music.
Walter Winans won the gold medal for his sculpture,
An American Trotter, Baron
Pierre de Coubertin, President of the IOC and founder of the modern Olympic movement, won the gold medal for literature. He actually entered the competition under the
pseudonyms of Georges Hohrod and Martin Eschbach from Germany. Once those displays had concluded, further demonstrations were made of the Swedish sport
varpa, similar to
quoits, and
stångstörtning, a version of the
caber toss. The three disciplines showcased were
pärk,
varpa and
stångstörtning. ==Participating nations==