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Sweden, between 5 May and 27 July 1912.

Twenty-eight nations and 2,408 competito rs, including 48 women, competed in 102 events in 14 sports. With the exception of tennis (starting on 5 May) and football and shooting (both starting on 29 Jun e), the games were held within a month with an official opening on 6 July. It wa s the last Olympics to issue solid gold medals and, with Japan's debut, the firs t time an Asian nation participated. Stockholm was the only bid for the games, a nd was selected in 1909. The games were the first to have art competitions, women's diving, women's swimm ing, and the first to feature both the decathlon and the new pentathlon, both wo n by Jim Thorpe. Electric timing was introduced in athletics, while the host cou ntry disallowed boxing. Figure skating was rejected by the organizers because th ey wanted to promote the Nordic Games. United States won the most gold medals (2 5), while Sweden won the most medals overall (65). Contents 1 2 3 4 5 Host selection Organization Venues Opening ceremony Events 5.1 Athletics 5.2 Cycling 5.3 Diving 5.4 Equestrian 5.5 Fencing 5.6 Football 5.7 Gymnastics 5.8 Modern pentathlon 5.9 Rowing 5.10 Sailing 5.11 Shooting 5.12 Swimming 5.13 Tennis 5.14 Tug of war 5.15 Water polo 5.16 Wrestling 5.17 Art competitions 5.18 Demonstration sports 6 Participating nations 7 Medal count 8 See also 9 References 10 External links Host selection Following the 1908 Summer Olympics in London, the authorities in Sweden immediat ely sought to ensure that the next games would be held there. There were two Swe dish members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) at the time, Viktor Ba lck and Clarence von Rosen.[1] The pair proposed to the Swedish governing bodies of athletics and gymnastics in order to ensure that they backed any potential b id. Support was given by the national associations on 18 April 1909 for a bid to host the Olympics in Stockholm on the basis that suitable financial arrangement s could be made.[2] King Gustaf V was petitioned on 6 May 1909 following the pub lication of preliminary plans for the Stockholm bid that the expected cost of ho sting the Games would be 415,000 Kronor (23,050 or $115,250). The Government acce pted the petition on behalf of the King and supported the bid.[2]

On 28 May, at the meeting of the IOC in Berlin, the Swedish representatives decl ared that they had full financial support for hosting the next Games in Stockhol m. A deal was made with the German IOC representative on the basis that Berlin w ould host the 1916 Summer Olympics. Pierre de Coubertin spoke at the meeting abo ut his concerns that Sweden should ensure that the Games take place, as he did n ot want a repeat of the problems with Italy hosting the 1908 Games. He also expr essed a desire that "the Games must be kept more purely athletic; they must be m ore dignified, more discreet; more in accordance with classic and artistic requi rements; more intimate, and, above all, less expensive."[3] The Games were duly awarded to Sweden to host in Stockholm as the only nominated host city for the 1 912 Summer Olympics.[3] Organization Baron Pierre de Coubertin wanted the 1912 Games to be "more dignified" than thos e of 1908. The news that Stockholm was to host the 1912 Olympics was received with enthusia sm by the Swedish public. The organizing committee took de Coubertin's words to heart, and aimed to achieve an Olympic Games which removed those elements which detracted from earlier Games.[4] The committee was elected in the autumn of 1909 , with Balck voted as the President of the committee, and Crown Prince Gustaf Ad olf selected as Honorary President. The committee's first meeting took place on 7 October, and on 11 October they delegated the arrangements for the individual branches of sports to the relevant governing bodies in Sweden.[5] There were fou r exceptions to this, with the game shooting, modern pentathlon and mountain asc ents retained by the Olympic committee, and the horse riding competitions being organized by Prince Carl, Duke of Vstergtland, who was the inspector of the Swedis h cavalry.[6] Altogether there were 187 members of these committees.[7] The official invitation to compete in the Games was issued on 18 November 1910 t o 27 countries, either directly or through their representative on the IOC. A fu rther 15 countries were to have been invited, but as they had no IOC representat ives, the Swedish authorities were unsure how to proceed.[8] Once the organizing committee for the Games received confirmation of the athletic associations in e ach of the 15 countries, they too were sent invitations.[9] Some 61,800 entry fo rms were printed for the use of the various nations.[10] Free transport was arranged for the invited nations' equipment, and a discount o f 50 percent was arranged for competitors and delegates on the state run railway .[10] A daily newspaper which only covered the Olympics was arranged to be publi shed during the Games, in both English and Swedish.[11] Further arrangements wer e made for the general arrival of visitors in order to entertain them whilst the y were not at the Games; a pleasure garden was opened north of the Olympic Stadi um, and a series of indoor tennis courts were converted into a restaurant.[11] Venues Main article: Venues of the 1912 Summer Olympics The front gate of the Stockholm Olympic Stadium, which was built for the 1912 Ga mes. In the initial bid document it was identified that a new stadium would be needed , initially envisaged as being located in the stermalm Athletic Grounds. In order to save funds, it was expected that only one of the stadium's stands would be p ermanent, with the other three made of wood and dismantled following the Games. The cost of that stadium was estimated at 235,000 Kronor.[2] Arrangements were m ade with the individual national committees to provide the use of stermalm Athlet ic Grounds and Traneberg.[12] It was decided to host the cycling road race around Mlaren, the third largest lak e in Sweden.[13] While it was decided that the water events, including the swimm ing and the rowing, could be held at Djurgrdsbrunnsviken, a stadium would need to be erected. Kakns was already used as a shooting range, but alterations were nee

ded to accommodate shooting events. Although it was not used as the Olympic stad ium as originally intended, stermalm hosted the lawn tennis and fencing competiti ons after a tennis pavilion was moved there from another location.[14] Five other locations were considered in addition to the stermalm Athletic Grounds to locate the Olympic Stadium. It was decided to build the Stockholm Olympic St adium on the site of the former Stockholm Athletic Grounds in order to retain th e other locations for other uses during the Games. By placing it to the north of the city, the Olympic Stadium was within the immediate vicinity of other pre-ex isting sporting venues. Initial funding was given to the sum of 400,000 Kr for a timber stadium but Torben Grut,[15] the architect, also drew up alternative pla ns for a stone stadium. Following discussions with the Swedish Central Associati on for the Application of Athletics, it was decided that the stone version shoul d be built, and further funds were made available through a national lottery onc e guarantees were made that no further funding was to be asked for in order to b uild the stadium.[16] However it was found that the original estimate for the st one stadium would still be too expensive, and the plans were once more modified in order to simplify the design and reduce costs. An agreement was entered into with a contractor on 2 November 1910 that it would be transferred complete by 25 May 1912.[17] Opening ceremony The Swedish team parading in the stadium during the opening ceremony The Games of the V Olympiad were opened on 6 July 1912. The Swedish Royal Family left Stockholm Palace at 10:40am, and were received at the Olympic Stadium by m embers of the IOC.[18] Three thousand competing athletes had already assembled i n the nearby stermalm Athletic Grounds, and began to enter the stadium in alphabe tical order by nation according to the Swedish spelling. The Swedish team entere d last,[19] but unlike the later tradition,[20] the Greek team did not enter fir st.[19] A hymn was sung, a traditional Swedish chant was conducted and prayers were read first in Swedish and then in English.[19] Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf addressed t he King on behalf of the Swedish Olympic Association.[21] King Gustav V then dec lared the Games officially open; afterwards a trumpet fanfare was played and the Crown Prince called for cheers for the King.[22] The athletes in their national groups marching out of the stadium in order ended the ceremony.[23] It is with legitimate joy and pride that we Swedes see athletes from every p art of the world gathered here with us. It is a great honour for Sweden that Sto ckholm has been chosen as the scene of the Fifth Olympiad, and I bid all of you, athletes and friends of athletics, a most hearty welcome to this friendly conte st of the nations. May the grand thought that found expression in the Olympic Ga mes in classic times be so held in honour by our age too, that these competition s may become a powerful means to promote the physical health and development of every people. With these words, I herewith declare the Olympic Games of Stockhol m opened. King Gustav V, [22] Events 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 comp rehensive,[24] 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 we re the tug of war, cycling, fencing, football, horse riding, lawn tennis, rowing , shooting, skating and yacht racing.[25][26] The question of adding skating to the programme was discussed once more on 7 February 1910, with the decision bein g 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.[2 6] Boxing was removed from the programme as it was unappealing to the Swedes.[27 ] Art competitions were considered at a further meeting on 14 February 1910,[26] and were subsequently added to the programme,[28] but now art competitions are no longer regarded as official Olympic events by the International Olympic Commi ttee. As a result now the 1912 Summer Olympics programme considered composed of 14 sports encompassing 18 disciplines and 102 events. The number of events in ea ch discipline is noted in parentheses.

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