Coordinates

23°31′58″N46°47′58″N

{{infobox olympic games|1952|summer | name

Games of the XV Olympiad | Logo Olympic logo 1952.png | Size 140px | Host city Helsinki, Finland | Nations participating 69 | Athletes participating 4,955(4,436 men, 519 women)| Events 149 in 17 sports | Opening ceremony July 19, 1952 | Closing ceremony August 3, 1952 | Officially opened by Juho Kusti Paasikivi | Athlete's Oath Heikki Savolainen | Judge's Oath | Olympic Torch Paavo Nurmi andHannes Kolehmainen | Stadium Olympiastadion | }}

The 1952 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Helsinki, Finland in 1952. Helsinki had been earlier given the 1940 Summer Olympics, which were cancelled due to World War II. It is famous for being the Olympic Games at which the most number of world records were broken.

Host city selection

Helsinki was chosen as the host city over bids from Amsterdam and five American cities: Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Minneapolis and Philadelphia, at the 40th IOC Session on June 21, 1947, in Stockholm, Sweden.

The voting results, in a chart below, comes from the International Olympic Committee Vote History web page.

colspan="7"	1952 Summer Olympics Bidding Results
City	NOC Name
	Helsinki			14	15
	Minneapolis-St. Paul			4	5
	Los Angeles			4	5
	Amsterdam			3	3
	Detroit			2|
	Chicago		1|
	Philadelphia

Highlights

To the enjoyment of the Finnish crowd, the Olympic Flame was lit by two Finnish heroes, runners Paavo Nurmi and Hannes Kolehmainen.

For the first time, a team from the Soviet Union participated in the Olympics. The first gold medal for the USSR was won by Nina Romashkova in the women's discus throwing event, and the Soviet women's gymnastics team won the first of its eight consecutive gold medals.

Israel made its Olympic debut. The Jewish state had been unable to participate in the 1948 Games because of its War of Independence. A previous Palestine Mandate team had boycotted the 1936 Games in protest of the Nazi regime.

The Republic of China (Chinese Taipei/Taiwan), listed as "China (Formosa)", withdrew from the Games on July 20, in protest of the allowing of the People's Republic of China's men and women to compete.

Hungary, a country of 9 million inhabitants, won 42 medals at these games, coming in third place behind the much more populous United States and Soviet Union.

Hungary's Golden Team won the football tournament, beating Yugoslavia 2–0 in the final.

Germany and Japan were invited after being barred in 1948. Following the post-war occupation and partition, three German states had been established. Teams from the Federal Republic of Germany and the Saarland (which joined the FRG after 1955) participated; the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) was absent. Though they won 24 medals, the fifth-highest total at the Games, German competitors failed to win a gold medal for the only time.

Rules in equestrianism now allowed non-military officers to compete, including women. Lis Hartel of Denmark became the first woman in the sport to win a medal.

Emil Zátopek of Czechoslovakia won three gold medals in the 5,000 m, 10,000 m and the Marathon (which he had never run before).

The India national field hockey team won its fifth consecutive gold.

Bob Mathias of the United States became the first Olympian to successfully defend his decathlon title with a total score of 7,887 points.

Josy Barthel of Luxembourg pulled a major surprise by winning the 1500 m.

Sports

{| |

Athletics

Basketball

Boxing

Canoeing

Cycling

Diving

Equestrian

Fencing

Field hockey

Football

|width=20| |valign=top|

Gymnastics

Modern pentathlon

Rowing

Sailing

Shooting

Swimming

Water polo

Weightlifting

Wrestling

|}

Demonstration sports

Handball

Finnish baseball

Venues

Hämeenlinna - Modern pentathlon

Harmaja - Sailing

Helsinki Football Grounds - Football

Huopalahti - Shooting (shotgun)

Käpylä - Cycling (road)

Kotka - Football

Laakso - Equestrian (eventing - riding)

Lahti - Football

Liuskasaari - Sailing

Malmi Rifle Range - Shooting (pistol/ rifle)

Maunula - Cycling (road)

Meilahti - Rowing

Messuhalli - Basketball (final), boxing, gymnastics, weightlifting, wrestling

Olympic Stadium - Athletics, Equestrian (jumping), Football (final)

Pakila - Cycling (road)

Ruskeasuo Equestrian Hall - Equestrian (dressage, eventing)

Swimming Stadium - Diving, Swimming, Water polo

Taivallahti - Canoeing

Tali Race Track - Equestrian (eventing steeplechase)

Tampere - Football

Tennis Palace - Basketball

Turku - Football

Velodrome - Cycling (track), Field hockey

Westend Tennis Hall - Fencing

Participating nations

A total of 69 nations participated in these Games, up from 59 in the 1948 Games. Thirteen nations made their first Olympic appearance in 1952: The Bahamas, China, Gold Coast (now Ghana), Guatemala, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Israel, Netherlands Antilles, Nigeria, Soviet Union (USSR), Thailand, and Vietnam.

Japan and Germany were both reinstated and permitted to send athletes after being banned for 1948 for their instigation of World War II. Due to the division of Germany, German athletes from Saar entered a separate team for the only time. Only West Germany would provide athletes for the actual Germany team, since East Germany refused to participate in a joint German team.

{| |valign=top| (Host nation) |width=20| |valign=top| |width=20| |valign=top| |}

Medal count

These are the top ten nations that won medals at these Games. {| |- |1||align=left| ||40||19||17||76 |- |2||align=left| ||22||30||19||71 |- |3||align=left| ||16||10||16||42 |- |4||align=left| ||12||13||10||35 |- |5||align=left| ||8||9||4||21 |- |6||align=left| ||7||3||3||13 |- |7||align=left| ||6||6||6||18 |-style="background:#ccccff" |8||align=left| ||6||3||13||22 |- |9||align=left| ||6||2||3||11 |- |10||align=left| ||3||2||0||5 |}

See also

}}

thumb|160px|[[Euro gold and silver commemorative coins (Finland)#2002 coinage|50th anniversary of the Helsinki Olympic Games commemorative coin]]The 50th anniversary of the Helsinki Olympic Games was the main motif for a one of the first Finnish euro silver commemorative coins, the 50th anniversary of the Helsinki Olympic Games commemorative coin, minted in 2002. On the reverse, a view of the Helsinki Olympic Stadium can be seen. On the right, the 500 markka commemorative coin minted in 1952 celebrating the occasion is depicted.

Notes

References

}} }}

Helsinki 1952 Official Olympic Report la84foundation.org

Helsinki 1952 Official Olympic Report olympic-museum.de

External links

}}

1952 Summer Olympics O Category:Sport in Helsinki

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The Summer Olympic Games or the Games of the Olympiad are an international multi-sport event, occurring every four years, organized by the International Olympic Committee. Medals are awarded in each event, with gold medals for first place, silver for second and bronze for third, a tradition that started in 1904. The Winter Olympics were also created due to the success of the summer Olympics.

The olympics have increased from a 42-event competition with fewer than 250 male athletes to a 300-event sporting celebration with over 10,000 competitors from 205 nations. Organizers for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing expected approximately 10,500 athletes to take part in the 302 events on the program for the games.

The United States has hosted four Summer Olympics Games, more than any other nation. The United Kingdom will have hosted three Summer Olympics Games when they return to the British capital in 2012, all of them have been (and will be) in London, making it the first city to hold the Summer Olympic Games three times. Australia, France, Germany and Greece have all hosted the Summer Olympic Games twice. Other countries that have hosted the summer Olympics are Belgium, Canada, Finland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, South Korea, Spain, the Soviet Union and Sweden. China hosted the Summer Olympics for the first time in Beijing in 2008. In the 2016 Summer Olympics, Rio de Janeiro will host the first Summer Games in South America. Four cities have hosted two Summer Olympic Games: Los Angeles, London, Paris and Athens. Stockholm, Sweden, has hosted events at two Summer Olympic Games, having hosted the games in 1912 and the equestrian events at the 1956 Summer Olympics—which they are usually listed as jointly hosting. Events at the summer Olympics have also been held in Hong Kong and the Netherlands (both represented by their own NOCs), with the equestrian events at the 2008 Summer Olympics being held in Hong Kong and two sailing races at the 1920 Summer Olympics being held in the Netherlands.

Five countries – Greece, Great Britain, France, Switzerland, and Australia (twice combined with New Zealand as Australasia) – have been represented at all Summer Olympic Games. The only country to have won at least one gold medal at every Summer Olympic Games is Great Britain, ranging from one gold in 1904, 1952 and 1996 to fifty-six golds in 1908.

Qualification

Qualification rules for each of the Olympic sports are set by the International Sports Federations (IFs) that governs that sport's international competition.

For individual sports, competitors typically qualify through attaining a certain place in a major international event or on the IF's ranking list. National Olympic committees may enter a limited number of qualified competitors in each event, and the NOC decides which qualified competitors to select as representatives in each event if more have attained the benchmark than can be entered. Many events provide for a certain number of wild card entries, given to athletes from developing nations.

Nations qualify teams for team sports through continental qualifying tournaments, in which each continental association is given a certain number of spots in the Olympic tournament. The host nation is generally given an automatic qualification.

History

Early years

The modern Olympic Games were founded in 1894 when Pierre Fredy, Baron de Coubertin sought to promote international understanding through sporting competition. He based his Olympics on the Wenlock Olympian Society Annual Games, which had been contested in Much Wenlock since 1850.

The first edition of de Coubertin's games, held in Athens in 1896, attracted just 245 competitors, of whom more than 200 were Greek, and only 14 countries were represented. Nevertheless, no international events of this magnitude had been organized before. Female athletes were not allowed to compete, though one woman, Stamata Revithi, ran the marathon course on her own, saying "[i]f the committee doesn’t let me compete I will go after them regardless".

The 1896 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the I Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event which was celebrated in Athens, Greece, from April 6 to April 15, 1896. It was the first Olympic Games held in the Modern era. Ancient Greece was the birthplace of the Olympic Games, consequently Athens was perceived to be an appropriate choice to stage the inaugural modern Games. It was unanimously chosen as the host city during a congress organized by Pierre de Coubertin, a French pedagogue and historian, in Paris, on June 23, 1894. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) was also established during this congress.

Despite many obstacles and setbacks, the 1896 Olympics were regarded as a great success. The Games had the largest international participation of any sporting event to that date. Panathinaiko Stadium, the first big stadium in the modern world, overflowed with the largest crowd ever to watch a sporting event. The highlight for the Greeks was the marathon victory by their compatriot Spiridon Louis. The most successful competitor was German wrestler and gymnast Carl Schuhmann, who won four gold medals.

After the Games, Coubertin and the IOC were petitioned by several prominent figures including Greece's King George and some of the American competitors in Athens, to hold all the following Games in Athens. However, the 1900 Summer Olympics were already planned for Paris and, except for the 1906 Intercalated Games, the Olympics did not return to Greece until the 2004 Summer Olympics.

Four years later the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris attracted more than four times as many athletes, including 11 women, who were allowed to officially compete for the first time, in croquet, golf, sailing, and tennis. The Games were integrated with the Paris World's Fair and lasted over 5 months. It is still disputed which events exactly were Olympic, since few or maybe even none of the events were advertised as such at the time.

Numbers declined for the 1904 Games in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, due in part to the lengthy transatlantic boat trip required of the European competitors, and the integration with the Louisiana Purchase Exposition World's Fair, which again spread the event out over an extended period. In contrast with Paris 1900, the word Olympic was used for practically every contest, including those exclusively for school boys or for Irish-Americans.

A series of smaller games were held in Athens in 1906. The IOC does not currently recognize these games as being official Olympic Games, although many historians do. The 1906 Athens alternating series of games to be held in Athens, but the series failed to materialize. The games were more successful than the 1900 and 1904 games, with over 900 athletes competing, and contributed positively to the success of future games.

The 1908 London Games saw numbers rise again, as well as the first running of the marathon over its now-standard distance of 42.195 km (26 miles 385 yards). The winner of the first Olympic Marathon in 1896 (a male-only race) was Spiridon "Spiros" Louis, a Greek water-carrier. He won at the Olympics in 2 hours 58 minutes and 50 seconds at a distance of 40 km (24 miles 85 yards). The new marathon distance of 42.195 km (26 miles 385 yards) was chosen to ensure that the race finished in front of the box occupied by the British royal family. Thus the marathon had been 40 km for the first games in 1896, but was subsequently varied by up to 2 km due to local conditions such as street and stadium layout. At the six Olympic games between 1900 and 1920, the marathon was raced over six different distances.

At the end of the 1908 marathon the Italian runner Dorando Pietri was first to enter the stadium, but he was clearly in distress, and collapsed of exhaustion before he could complete the event. He was helped over the finish line by concerned race officials, but later he was disqualified and the gold medal was awarded to John Hayes, who had trailed him by around 30 seconds.

The Games continued to grow, attracting 2,504 competitors, to Stockholm in 1912, including the great all-rounder Jim Thorpe, who won both the decathlon and pentathlon. Thorpe had previously played a few games of baseball for a fee, and saw his medals stripped for this breach of amateurism after complaints from Avery Brundage. They were reinstated in 1983, 30 years after his death. The Games at Stockholm were the first to fulfill Pierre de Coubertin's original idea. For the first time since the Games started in 1896 were all continents represented with athletes competing in the same stadium.

The scheduled Berlin Games of 1916 were canceled following the onset of World War I.

Interwar era

The 1920 Antwerp games in war-ravaged Belgium were a subdued affair, but again drew a record number of competitors. This record only stood until 1924, when the Paris Games would involve 3,000 competitors, the greatest of whom was Finnish runner Paavo Nurmi. "The Flying Finn", won three team gold medals and the individual 1,500 and 5,000 meter runs, the latter two on the same day.

The 1928 Amsterdam games were notable for being the first games which allowed females to compete at track & field athletics, and benefited greatly from the general prosperity of the times alongside the first appearance of sponsorship of the games, from Coca-Cola. The 1928 games saw the introduction of a standard medal design with the IOC choosing Giuseppe Cassioli's depiction of greek goddess Nike and a winner being carried by a crowd of people. This design would be used up until 1972.

The 1932 in Los Angeles games were affected by the Great Depression, which contributed to the fewest competitors since the St. Louis games. The 1936 Berlin Games were seen by the German government as a golden opportunity to promote their ideology. The ruling Nazi Party commissioned film-maker Leni Riefenstahl to film the games. The result, Olympia, was a masterpiece, despite Hitler's theories of Aryan racial superiority being repeatedly shown up by "non-Aryan" athletes. In particular, African-American sprinter and long jumper Jesse Owens won 4 gold medals. The tale of Hitler snubbing Owens at the ensuing medal ceremony is a fabrication. The 1936 Berlin Games also saw the reintroduction of the Torch Relay.

Due to World War II, the Games of 1940 (due to be held in Tokyo and temporarily relocated to Helsinki upon the outbreak of war) were canceled. The Games of 1944 were due to be held in London but were also canceled; instead, London hosted the first games after the end of the war, in 1948.

After World War II

The first post-war Games were held in 1948 in London, with both Germany and Japan excluded. Dutch sprinter Fanny Blankers-Koen won four gold medals on the track, emulating Owens' achievement in Berlin.

At the 1952 Games in Helsinki the USSR team competed for the first time and immediately became one of the dominant teams. Finland made a legend of an amiable Czech army lieutenant named Emil Zátopek, who was intent on improving on his single gold and silver medals from 1948. Having first won both the 10,000 and 5,000 meter races, he also entered the marathon, despite having never previously raced at that distance. Pacing himself by chatting with the other leaders, Zátopek led from about half way, slowly dropping the remaining contenders to win by two and a half minutes, and completed a trio of wins.

The 1956 Melbourne Games were largely successful, barring a water polo match between Hungary and the Soviet Union, which political tensions caused to end as a pitched battle between the teams. Due to a foot-and-mouth disease outbreak in Britain at the time and the strict quarantine laws of Australia, the equestrian events were held in Stockholm.

At the 1960 Rome Games a young light-heavyweight boxer named Cassius Clay, later known as Muhammad Ali, arrived on the scene. Ali would later throw his gold medal away in disgust after being refused service in a whites-only restaurant in his home town, Louisville, Kentucky. Soviet women's artistic gymnastics team members won 15 of 16 possible medals. Other performers of note in 1960 included Wilma Rudolph, a gold medalist in the 100 meters, 200 meters and 4x100 meters relay events.

The 1964 Games held in Tokyo are notable for heralding the modern age of telecommunications. These games were the first to be broadcast worldwide on television, enabled by the recent advent of communication satellites. The 1964 Games were thus a turning point in the global visibility and popularity of the Olympics.

Performances at the 1968 Mexico City games were affected by the altitude of the host city. No event was affected more than the long jump. American athlete Bob Beamon jumped 8.90 meters, setting a new world record and, in the words of fellow competitor and then-reigning champion Lynn Davies, "making the rest of us look silly." Beamon's world record would stand for 23 years. The 1968 Games also introduced the now-universal Fosbury flop, a technique which won American high jumper Dick Fosbury the gold medal. Politics took center stage in the medal ceremony for the men's 200 meter dash, where Tommie Smith and John Carlos made a protest gesture on the podium against the segregation in the United States; their political act was condemned within the Olympic Movement, but was praised in the American Civil Rights Movement.

Politics again intervened at Munich in 1972, with lethal consequences. A Palestinian terrorist group named Black September invaded the Olympic village and broke into the apartment of the Israeli delegation. They killed two Israelis and held 9 others as hostages. The terrorists demanded that Israel release numerous prisoners. When the Israeli government refused their demand, a tense stand-off ensued while negotiations continued. Eventually the captors, still holding their hostages, were offered safe passage and taken to an airport, where they were ambushed by German security forces. In the firefight that followed, 15 people, including the nine Israeli athletes and five of the terrorists, were killed. After much debate, it was decided that the Games would continue, but proceedings were obviously dominated by these events. Some memorable athletic achievements did occur during these Games, notably the winning of a then-record seven gold medals by United States swimmer Mark Spitz, Lasse Virén (of Finland)'s back-to-back gold in the 5,000 meters and 10,000 meters (defeating American distance great Steve Prefontaine in the former), and the winning of three gold medals by 16-year-old Soviet gymnast Olga Korbut. Korbut failed to win the all-around, losing to her teammate Ludmilla Tourischeva.

There was no such tragedy in Montreal in 1976, but bad planning and fraud led to the Games' cost far exceeding the budget. The Montreal Games were the most expensive in Olympic history, until the 2008 Summer Olympics, costing over $5 billion (equivalent to $20 billion in 2006). For a time, it seemed that the Olympics might no longer be a viable financial proposition. In retrospect, the belief that contractors (suspected of being members of the Montreal Mafia) skimmed large sums of money from all levels of contracts while also profiting from the substitution of cheaper building materials of lesser quality, may have contributed to the delays, poor construction and excessive costs. In 1988, one such contractor, Giuseppe Zappia "was cleared of fraud charges that resulted from his work on Olympic facilities after two key witnesses died before testifying at his trial." There was also a boycott by African nations to protest against a recent tour of apartheid-run South Africa by a New Zealand rugby side. The Romanian gymnast Nadia Comăneci won the women's individual all around gold medal with two of four possible perfect scores, thus giving birth to a gymnastics dynasty in Romania. Another female gymnast to earn the perfect score and three gold medals there was Nellie Kim of the USSR. Lasse Virén repeated his double gold in the 5,000 meters and 10,000 meters, making him the only athlete to ever win the distance double twice.

End of the 20th century

Following the Soviet Union's participation in the Afghan Civil War, 66 nations, including the United States, Canada, West Germany and Japan, boycotted the 1980 games held in Moscow. The boycott contributed to the 1980 Games being a less publicised and less competitive affair, which was dominated by the host country.

In 1984 the Soviet Union, and 13 Soviet Allies, reciprocated by boycotting the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. These games were perhaps the first games of a new era to make a profit. The games were again viable, but had become more commercial. Again, without the participation of the Eastern European countries, the 1984 Games were dominated by their host country. The game was also the first time Mainland China (People's Republic) participated.

The 1988 games, in Seoul, were very well planned but the games were tainted when many of the athletes, most notably men's 100 metres winner Ben Johnson, failed mandatory drug tests. Despite splendid drug-free performances by many individuals, the number of people who failed screenings for performance-enhancing chemicals overshadowed the games.

On the bright side, drug testing and regulation authorities were catching up with the cheating that had been endemic in athletics for some years. The 1992 Barcelona Games were cleaner, although not without incident . In evidence there was increased professionalism amongst Olympic athletes, exemplified by US basketball's "Dream Team". 1992 also saw the reintroduction to the Games of several smaller European states which had been incorporated into the Soviet Union since World War II. These games also saw gymnast Vitaly Scherbo equal the record for most individual gold medals at a single Games set by Eric Heiden in the 1980 Winter Games, with five.

By then the process of choosing a location for the Games had itself become a commercial concern; allegations of corruption rocked the International Olympic Committee, in particular with reference to Salt Lake City's bid to host the 2002 Winter Olympics. It was also widely rumored that The Coca-Cola Company, a key IOC sponsor, was highly influential in the 1996 Summer Olympics being hosted by its home city of Atlanta. In the stadium in 1996, the highlight was 200 meters runner Michael Johnson annihilating the world record in front of a home crowd. Canadians savored Donovan Bailey's record-breaking gold medal run in the 100-meter dash. This was popularly felt to be an appropriate recompense for the previous national disgrace involving Ben Johnson. There were also emotional scenes, such as when Muhammad Ali, clearly affected by Parkinson's disease, lit the Olympic torch and received a replacement medal for the one he had discarded in 1960. The latter event took place not at the boxing ring but in the basketball arena, at the demand of US television. The atmosphere at the Games was marred, however, when a bomb exploded during the celebration in Centennial Olympic Park. In June 2003, the principal suspect in this bombing, Eric Robert Rudolph, was arrested.

New millennium

The 2000 Games were held in Sydney, Australia, and showcased individual performances by local favorite Ian Thorpe in the pool, Briton Steve Redgrave who won a rowing gold medal in an unprecedented fifth consecutive Olympics, and Cathy Freeman, an Indigenous Australian whose triumph in the 400 meters united a packed stadium. Eric "the Eel" Moussambani, a swimmer from Equatorial Guinea, had a memorably slow 100 meter freestyle swim that showed that, even in the commercial world of the twentieth century, some of de Coubertin's original vision still remained. The Sydney Games were also memorable for the first appearance of a joint North and South Korean contingent (to a standing ovation) at the opening ceremonies, even if they competed as different countries. Controversy did not escape the 2000 Games in Women's Artistic Gymnastics, in which the vaulting horse was set to the wrong height during the All Around Competition. Several athletes faltered, including Russian Svetlana Khorkina, who had been favored to win gold after qualifying for the competition in first place.

In 2004 the Games returned to their birthplace in Athens, Greece. Greece spent at least $7.2 billion on the Games, including $1.5 billion on security alone. Nonetheless, the Men's Gymnastics events were mired in controversy when it was discovered that Korean gymnast Yang Tae Young had been incorrectly credited with a lower start value, which placed him third behind American Paul Hamm, who won the competition. Later in the event finals, fans halted the Men's High Bar competition with chants of disapproval following the release of the score for Russian Alexei Nemov. Allegations of corrupt judging also marred the event finals in men's still rings. Although unfounded and wildly sensationalized reports of potential terrorism drove crowds away from the preliminary competitions of first weekend of the games (14–15 August), attendance picked up as the games progressed. Still, a third of the tickets failed to sell. The Athens Games witnessed all 202 NOCs participate with over 11,000 participants.

The 2008 Summer Olympics were held in Beijing, People's Republic of China. This Olympics was the subject of much controversy, especially following the March Tibetan riots. Human rights activists unsuccessfully called for a boycott, and some even compared the 2008 Olympics to the 1936 ones held in Nazi Germany. Several new events were held, including the new discipline of BMX for both men and women. For the first time, women competed in the steeplechase. The fencing program was expanded to include all six events for both men and women. Women had not previously been able to compete in team foil or saber events (although women's team épée and men's team foil were dropped for these Games). Marathon swimming events, over the distance of 10 kilometers, were added. In addition, the doubles events in table tennis were replaced by team events. American swimmer Michael Phelps set a record for gold medals at a single Games with eight, and tied the record of Heiden and Scherbo for most individual golds at a single Games. Another major star of the Games was Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt, who became the first male athlete ever to set world records in the finals of both the 100 and 200 metres in the same Games.

London, United Kingdom will hold the 2012 Summer Olympics, making it the first city to host the Games three times. The International Olympic Committee has removed baseball and softball from the 2012 program. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil will be the host city of the 2016 Summer Olympics, becoming the first South American city to host either the Summer or Winter Games. Also, this will be the first games held in a lusosphere country (a Portuguese speaking country).

List of Olympic sports

43 different sports, spanning 56 different disciplines, have been part of the Olympic program at one point or another. 28 sports have comprised the schedule for the 2000, 2004, and 2008 Summer Olympics, though baseball and softball have been removed to give a list of 26 for the 2012 Games.

The Summer Olympic Sports or Federations are regrouped under a common umbrella association, called the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF).

{| cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" |valign="top"| {| class=wikitable ! Sport || Years |- | Archery || 1900–1912, 1920, since 1972 |- | Athletics || all |- | Badminton || since 1992 |- | Baseball || 1992–2008 |- | Basketball || since 1936 |- | Basque pelota || 1900 |- | Boxing || 1904, 1908, since 1920 |- | Canoeing and kayaking || since 1936 |- | Cricket || 1900 |- | Croquet || 1900 |- | Cycling || all |- | Diving || since 1904 |- | Equestrian || 1900, since 1912 |- | Fencing || all |- | Football || 1900–1928, since 1936 |- | Golf || 1900, 1904, 2016 |- | Gymnastics || all |- | Handball || 1936, since 1972 |- | Hockey (field) || 1908, 1920, since 1928 |- | Jeu de paume || 1908 |- | Judo || 1964, since 1972 |- | Lacrosse || 1904, 1908 |} |valign="top"| {| class=wikitable ! Sport || Years |- | Modern pentathlon || since 1912 |- | Polo || 1900, 1908, 1920, 1924, 1936 |- | Rackets || 1908 |- | Roque || 1904 |- | Rowing || since 1900 |- | Rugby union || 1900, 1908, 1920, 1924 |- | Rugby sevens || 2016 |- | Sailing || 1900, since 1908 |- | Shooting || 1896, 1900, 1908–1924, since 1932 |- | Softball || 1996–2008 |- | Swimming || all |- | Synchronized swimming || since 1984 |- | Table tennis || since 1988 |- | Taekwondo || since 2000 |- | Tennis || 1896–1924, since 1988 |- | Triathlon || since 2000 |- | Tug of war || 1900–1920 |- | Volleyball || since 1964 |- | Water motorsports || 1908 |- | Water polo || 1900, since 1908 |- | Weightlifting || 1896, 1904, since 1920 |- | Wrestling || 1896, since 1904 |} |}

List of modern Summer Olympic Games

241 997 651 2008 2407 2626 3089 2883 1332 3963 4104 4955 3314 5338 5151 5516 7134 6084 5179 6829 8391 9356 10318 10651 10625 10942

Games	Year	Host	Dates	Nations	Competitors	Sports	Events	Ref
Total	! Men	! Women
1896 Summer Olympics	I	1896	align=left		14	241	|	0	9	43
	1900	align=left		24	|	975	22	18	95
	1904	align=left		12	|	645	6	17	91
	1908	align=left		22	|	1971	37	22	110
	1912			28	|	2359	48	14	102
	1916
	1920			29	|	2561	65	22	154
	1924	align=left		44	|	2954	135	17	126
	1928			46	|	2606	277	14	109
	1932			37	|	1206	126	14	117
	1936	align=left		49	|	3632	331	19	129
	1940
	1944
	1948			59	|	3714	390	17	136
	1952			69	|	4436	519	17	149
	1956			72	|	2938	376	17	145
	1960			83	|	4727	611	17	150
	1964			93	|	4473	678	19	163
	1968			112	|	4735	781	18	172
	1972			121	|	6075	1059	21	195
	1976			92	|	4824	1260	21	198
	1980			80	|	4064	1115	21	203
	1984			140	|	5263	1566	21	221
	1988			160	|	6197	2194	23	237
	1992			169	|	6652	2704	25	257
	1996			197	|	6806	3512	26	271
	2000			199	|	6582	4069	28	300
	2004			201	|	6296	4329	28	301
	2008			204	|	6305	4637	28	302
	2012
	2016
	2020
	2024
	2028

Note: Although the Games of 1916, 1940, and 1944 had been cancelled, the Roman numerals for those Games were still used because the Summer Games' official titles count Olympiads, not the Games themselves; those Olympiads occurred anyway per the Olympic Charter. This is in contrast to the Roman numerals in the official titles of the Winter Olympic Games, which ignore the cancelled Winter Games of 1940 & 1944; those titles count Games instead of Olympiads.

See also

List of participating nations at the Summer Olympic Games

All-time Olympic Games medal count

Olympic Games scandals

Winter Olympic Games

Olympic Stadium

Multi-sport event

Olympic Games ceremony

Summer Paralympic Games

Notes

External links

Official Site of the Olympic Movement

Summer Olympic Games medalists and records (German)

Candidate Cities for future Olympic Games

LA84 Foundation archive of Official Reports

Category:1896 establishments

af:Olimpiese Somerspele ar:ألعاب أولمبية صيفية az:Yay Olimpiya Oyunları bn:গ্রীষ্মকালীন অলিম্পিক গেম্‌স zh-min-nan:Hā-kùi Olympia Ūn-tōng-hoē be:Летнія Алімпійскія гульні be-x-old:Летнія Алімпійскія гульні bcl:Olimpikong Karawat sa Tig-init bs:Ljetne olimpijske igre bg:Летни олимпийски игри ca:Jocs Olímpics d'estiu cs:Letní olympijské hry da:Sommer-OL de:Olympische Sommerspiele et:Suveolümpiamängud el:Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες es:Juegos Olímpicos de Verano eo:Someraj Olimpikoj eu:Udako Olinpiar Jokoak fa:بازی‌های المپیک تابستانی fr:Jeux olympiques d'été ko:하계 올림픽 id:Olimpiade Musim Panas it:Giochi olimpici estivi la:Olympia Aestiva lv:Vasaras Olimpiskās spēles lt:Vasaros olimpinės žaidynės mr:उन्हाळी ऑलिंपिक क्रीडा स्पर्धा mn:Зуны олимп nl:Olympische Zomerspelen ja:夏季オリンピック no:Olympiske sommerleker nn:Olympiske sommarleikar pa:ਓਲੰਪਿਕ ਖੇਡਾਂ pl:Letnie igrzyska olimpijskie ro:Jocuri Olimpice de vară ru:Летние Олимпийские игры simple:Summer Olympic Games sk:Letné olympijské hry sl:Poletne olimpijske igre sv:Olympiska sommarspelen tl:Palarong Olimpiko sa Tag-init th:โอลิมปิกฤดูร้อน tr:Yaz Olimpiyat Oyunları uk:Літні Олімпійські ігри vi:Thế vận hội Mùa hè zh:夏季奥林匹克运动会

Competitor for Jamaica

Vincent George Rhoden (born December 13, 1926 in Kingston) is a former Jamaican athlete, winner of two Olympic gold medals in 1952.

Rhoden, who lived in San Francisco, was one of the successful long sprinters from Jamaica in the late 1940s and early 1950s, along with Arthur Wint and Herb McKenley. He competed in the 1948 Summer Olympics, but did not win a medal, being eliminated in the heats of the 100 m and the semi-final of the 400 m. He was also a member of the heavily favoured Jamaican 4 x 400 m relay team, but when Wint pulled a muscle in the final, their chances at a medal were gone. On August 22, 1950 at Eskilstuna, Sweden, Rhoden set a new world record in 400 m of 45.8 s. He also won the AAU championships in 400 m from 1949 to 1951 and as a Morgan State University student, won the NCAA championships in in 1951 and in from 1950 to 1952.

At the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, George Rhoden was more successful. He was one of the pre-race favourites in the 400 m as a world record holder. He won a close battle with his compatriot McKenley, who had also been second in the 1948 Olympic 400 m. As the anchor runner of the Jamaican relay team, Rhoden added a second Olympic gold, edging the United States by a tenth of a second, and setting a new world record (3:03.9).

References

Category:1926 births Category:Living people Category:Morgan State University alumni Category:Jamaican sprinters Category:Former world record holders in athletics (track and field) Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1948 Summer Olympics Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1952 Summer Olympics Category:Olympic athletes of Jamaica Category:Olympic gold medalists for Jamaica Category:Olympic medalists in athletics (track and field)

de:George Rhoden fr:George Rhoden it:George Rhoden hu:George Rhoden nl:George Rhoden ja:ジョージ・ローデン no:George Rhoden pl:George Rhoden fi:George Rhoden

Coordinates	23°31′58″N46°47′58″N
Name	Dick Button
Fullname	Richard Totten Button
Country
Birth date	July 18, 1929
Birth place	Englewood, New Jersey, United States
Formercoach	Gustave Lussi
Skating club	SC of Boston Philadelphia SC & HS
Retired	1952
Medaltemplates	}}

}} }} Richard Totten "Dick" Button (born July 18, 1929) is an American former figure skater and a well-known long-time skating television analyst. He is a two-time Olympic Champion (1948, 1952) and five-time World Champion (1948–1952). He is also the only non-European man to have become European Champion.

Button is credited as having been the first skater to successfully land the double axel jump in competition in 1948, as well as the first triple jump of any kind – a triple loop – in 1952. He also invented the flying camel spin, which was originally known as the "Button camel".

Biography

Amateur career

Dick Button was born and raised in Englewood, New Jersey. He began skating at a young age. He did not begin training seriously until the age of 12 after his father overheard him being told he would never be a good skater. Soon after, Button's father sent him to New York to take lessons from ice dancing coach Joe Carroll. He trained over the summer in Lake Placid, New York, eventually switching on Carroll's recommendation to coach Gustave Lussi, who coached Button for the rest of his career.

In his first competition, the 1943 Eastern States Novice Championship, he placed second behind Jean-Pierre Brunet. In 1944, he won the Eastern States Junior title which earned him the opportunity to compete at the National Novice Championships. He won the event. In 1945, his third year of serious skating, he won the Eastern States Senior title and the national Junior title. At this time, he was also skating pairs, and competed with Barbara Jones in Junior Pairs at the 1946 Eastern States Championships. They performed Button's singles program side by side with minor modifications and won. This competition, where Button also competed as a single skater, led into the 1946 United States Figure Skating Championships.

Button won the 1946 U.S. Championships at age 16, winning by a unanimous vote. According to Button, this was the first time anyone had won the men's novice, junior, and senior titles in three consecutive years. This win earned Button a spot to the 1947 World Figure Skating Championships.

At the 1947 World Championships, Button was second behind rival Hans Gerschwiler following the compulsory figures part of the competition, with 34.9 points separating them. Button won the free skating portion, but Gerschwiler had the majority of first places from the judges, three to Button's two. Button won the silver medal at his first Worlds. It was the last time he placed lower than first in competition.

At the competition, Button was befriended by Ulrich Salchow. Salchow, who was disappointed when Button did not win, presented him with the first International Cup Salchow had won in 1901. Button later passed on this trophy to John Misha Petkevich following the 1972 Olympics and World Championships.

Button faced Gerschwiler again at the 1948 European Figure Skating Championships. Button led after figures in points, having 749 points to Gerschwiler's 747.8, but Gerschwiler led in placings, with 14 to Button's 15. During the free skate, Button performed his Olympic program for the first time. He won, with 11 placings to Gerschwiler's 18. Following this year, when North Americans took home the men's and ladies' titles, non-Europeans were no longer allowed to enter into the European Championships. Button is the only American to have won the European Championships.

At the 1948 Winter Olympics, Button led Gerschwiler by a 29.6 point lead following the figures portion of the competition, having won four of the five figures. Button had been attempting the double axel jump in practice but had never landed it. In practice on the day before the free skating event, Button landed one in practice for the first time. He decided to put it into his free skate for the next day. Button landed it in competition, becoming the first skater in the world to do so. Button received eight firsts and two seconds, for a total of 10 places. Gerschwiler had 23. That combined with the figures results gave Button the gold medal. He became, and remains, the youngest man to win the Olympic gold in figure skating. Button went on to the 1948 World Championships, where he faced Gerschwiler for the last time. Button won the event. At the time, the U.S. Championships were held after the World Championships, and Button finished his season by defending his national title.

In February 1948, Button, his coach, and his mother were in Prague to perform an exhibition. They were stranded there after the Communist uprising and had to be extracted by the U.S. Army.

In 1949, Button won the Sullivan Award as the outstanding amateur athlete in the United States. He is one of 2 male figure skaters to win this award. Evan Lysacek being the other.

Button had intended to attend Yale University beginning in the fall of 1947, but deferred a year due to the Olympics. Although he had originally been assured that his skating would not be a problem as long as his grades were good, he was later informed that he could not continue competing if he wanted to attend Yale. On advice from people from the Skating Club of Boston, Button applied to, and was accepted at, Harvard University. Button was a full-time student at Harvard while skating competitively and graduated in 1952.

Button won every competition he entered for the rest of his competitive career. He trained at the Skating Club of Boston while attending Harvard, commuting to Lake Placid during breaks.

As reigning and defending champion, as well as being the first skater to perform a double axel and a flying camel, Button was under pressure to perform a new jump or spin every season. In 1949, he performed a double loop-double loop combination. In 1950, he performed the double loop-double loop-double loop. In 1951, he performed a double axel-double loop combination and a double axel-double axel sequence. For the 1952 Winter Olympics, Button and Lussi began working on a triple jump. They settled on training the triple loop. Button landed it for the first time in practice in December 1951 at the Skating Club of Boston, and for the first time in exhibition in Vienna following the European Championships.

At the 1952 Winter Olympics, Button had the lead after figures, with 9 first places, over Helmut Seibt. Button's point total was 1,000.2 to Seibt's 957.7. During his free skate, Button successfully landed the triple loop, becoming the first person to complete a triple jump in competition. He then went on to defend his titles at the 1952 World Figure Skating Championships and U.S. Championships.

Professional career

Button decided to enter Harvard Law School in the fall of 1952. Because of the time commitments, Button retired from amateur skating that year in order to focus on law school. Following his retirement, Button signed on to skate with the Ice Capades during his law school vacations.

After his competitive skating career ended, Button toured with Ice Capades and Holiday on Ice, and completed a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) degree at Harvard Law School. After graduation, he was admitted to the bar in Washington, D.C.. He co-produced "Dick Button's Ice-Travaganza" for the 1964 New York World's Fair, starring 1963 World Champion Donald McPherson, but the ice show lost money and closed after a few months. As an actor, Button has performed in movie roles such as "The Young Doctors" starring Fredrich March, to "The Bad News Bears Go to Japan" starring Tony Curtis. And, in television roles on The Hallmark Hall of Fame's "Hans Brinker]]" co-starring Tab Hunter, as well as "Dancing is a Man's Game" dancing alongside star Gene Kelly and famed New York City Ballet star Edward Villella, and appeared in "Mr. Broadway" starring Mickey Rooney. Other television appearances include "Beverly Hills 90210" and Stephen Spielberg's "The Animaniacs", "Omnibus", "Art Linkletter's House Party", numerous appearances on the Hallmark Hall of Fame, "Christmas at Rockefeller Center" with Robert Goulet and Carol Lawrence; among his other numerous guest star television appearances. On the stage, Button has starred in the touring productions of Irving Berlin's "Call Me Madam", Leonard Bernstein's"On the Town", The Gershwins' "Girl Crazy", Rodgers and Hart's "Pal Joey" , "The Teahouse of the August Moon", "Tall Story", and "Picnic" as well as in the New York City Center revivals of "Mister Roberts" and "South Pacific" to name a few. Button also studied acting with the famed Sandy Meisner at his school in New York City.

Button provided commentary for CBS's broadcast of the 1960 Winter Olympics, launching a decades-long career in television broadcast journalism. Button again did commentary for CBS's broadcast of the 1961 United States Figure Skating Championships. Then, beginning in 1962, he worked as a figure skating analyst for ABC Sports, which had acquired the rights to the U.S. Championships as well as the 1962 World Figure Skating Championships. During ABC's coverage of figure skating events in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, Button became the sport's best-known analyst, well-known for his frank and often caustic appraisal of skaters' performances. He won an Emmy Award in 1981 for Outstanding Sports Personality – Analyst. Although other U.S. television networks aired the Winter Olympics from the 1990s onward, Button still appeared on ABC's broadcasts of the U.S. and World Figure Skating Championships until ABC removed them from its broadcast schedule in 2008. Button's reputation and influence in the sport of figure skating therefore long outlasted his own competitive and performing career.

During the 2006 Games, Button appeared on loan from ABC to once again provide commentary on the Olympics. Also during the 2006 Winter Olympics, USA Network ran a show called Olympic Ice. A recurring segment, called "Push Dick's Button," invited viewers to send in questions which Button answered on the air. The segment proved very popular so ABC and ESPN put it into various broadcasts, most notably the 2007 Skate America, the 2007 United States Figure Skating Championships, and the 2007 World Figure Skating Championships.

In the fall of 2010 Button was lead Judge on the popular ABC show "Skating with the Stars" produced by BBC Worldwide, producers of the hit show "Dancing with the Stars". In 2009, Button served as a judge on the CBC's Battle of the Blades reality show. He again appeared on NBC to do commentary for 2010 Games.

As founder of Candid Productions, he created a variety of made-for-television sports events, including the "World Professional Figure Skating Championships", "Challenge of Champions", Dorothy Hamill specials for HBO, and other non-skating sporting events like [[Superstars."Super Teams", "Junior Superstars", "Women's Superstars", and the popular "Battle of the Network Stars"

Button was inducted into the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 1976, the same year it was founded.

Personal life

In 1975, Button married figure skating coach Slavka Kohout, but they later divorced. Button has two children, Edward and Emily.

Button suffered a serious head injury on July 5, 1978 when he was one of several men assaulted in Central Park by a gang of youths armed with baseball bats. According to articles on different days in the New York Times, Button was variously reported to have been passing through the park while jogging on his way to an appointment with a cabinetmaker; when he was attacked . Three persons were subsequently convicted of assault for the attacks. Contemporary news accounts and trial testimony indicated that the assailants were intending to target gay people, but there was no indication that any of the victims were targeted specifically. News accounts stated the attackers targeted persons in the Central Park Ramble area as that was an area where gay persons congregated, but that the victims were attacked at random, and that because of the random nature of the attacks ". . . the police said there was no reason to believe the victims were homosexual."

On December 31, 2000, Button was skating at a public rink in New York State when he fell, fracturing his skull and causing a serious brain injury. He has since recovered, and now is a national spokesman for the Brain Injury Association of America as well as continuing his Award winning commentary for the broadcasts of The Olympic Games, and various figure skating television shows. 2007, he was named "Man of the Century" and in 2010, Dick Button was awarded a "Life-Time Achievement Award".

Firsts

First skater to land a double axel. First skater to land a triple jump (a triple loop)

First male skater to perform the camel spin and inventor of the flying camel spin (also known as the Button Camel, after him)

Only American to win the European title.

First American World Champion.

First American to win the Olympic title in figure skating.

First and only American back-to-back Olympic champion in figure skating. First and only male skater to simultaneously hold all the following titles: National, North American, European, Worlds, and Olympics. Youngest man to win the Olympic title in figure skating (age 18).

Results

style="text-align:center; background:gold;"

Event	! 1944	! 1945	! 1946	! 1947	! 1948	! 1949	! 1950	! 1951	! 1952
Winter Olympic Games		|			1st				1st
World Figure Skating Championships	World Championships	|			2nd	1st	1st	1st	1st	1st
European Figure Skating Championships	European Championships	|				1st
North American Figure Skating Championships	North American Championships	|			1st		1st		1st
United States Figure Skating Championships	U.S. Championships	1st N. ||	1st J.	1st	1st	1st	1st	1st	1st	1st

N = Novice level; J = Junior level

References

External links

ABC Sports biography of Dick Button

Dick Button's U.S. Olympic Team bio

Olympic.org Video: Dick Button lands the first double axel

Ranking the Rink

Category:1929 births Category:American male single skaters Category:Figure skating commentators Category:Figure skaters at the 1948 Winter Olympics Category:Figure skaters at the 1952 Winter Olympics Category:Harvard Law School alumni Category:James E. Sullivan Award recipients Category:Living people Category:Olympic figure skaters of the United States Category:People from Englewood, New Jersey Category:Sports Emmy Award winners Category:Olympic gold medalists for the United States Category:Olympic medalists in figure skating

de:Richard Button es:Dick Button fa:دیک باتون fr:Dick Button ja:ディック・バトン no:Richard Button pl:Richard Button pt:Dick Button ru:Баттон, Дик fi:Dick Button tr:Dick Button