1 Sporting Events of the London Olympics: 1908, 1948, and 2012 Student’s Name Institutional Affiliation Course Instructor Due Date 2 Sporting Events of the London Olympics: 1908, 1948, and 2012 The Olympic Games are an ever-evolving event. Having been first held in 1896, there have been 31 Olympic events held over the past decade. Every four years, the organizers manage to create events that are unlike anything people have seen before. Besides, the games tend to grow bigger in terms of the audience, the number of events, the number of participants, and, of course, the cost of preparing for the games. Every time the Olympic Games are held, they are held in a different city in a different country (Raynham, 2016; Young, 2004). Even though some cities and nations have hosted the Olympic Games more than once, very few places can boast to have hosted the games more than twice. In fact, The United States and the United Kingdom are the only two countries to have ever hosted the Olympics more than twice. The United States has hosted the games four times while the United Kingdom has hosted the games three times. The difference between the two, however, is that while America has hosted more times, it has done so in different cities and different states. Great Britain, however, has hosted all three of its games in London. As such, performing a comparison of the Games in London can yield better and more consistent results. Because of this, it is evident that the expansion of the athletic event repertoire has changed dramatically from the London Olympic Games in 1908, 1948, and 2012. 1908 London Olympics The fourth-ever Olympic Games were held in London in 1908. Being the fourth time the games were being held, their popularity had yet to rise to the level it is today. Moreover, since sports numerous sports at the time were not played at the professional level yet, the number of events was necessarily small. In total, 110 events were held covering only 22 sports (Harris, 2015). It is thus interesting that with such a limited number of events, the 1908 London Games took place over 187 days, from the 27th of April to 31st of October (Evans, 2016). The events 3 were widely spaced out, with long breaks, sometimes lasting for weeks, between events. During this era of the games, they were considered to be summer-long events. The meaning of this was that the events were intended to be an attraction over the entire summer, a perception that is markedly different from the modern Olympic Games which, while still being held during the summer months of the northern hemisphere, tend to be carried out over two to three weeks (Raynham, 2016). One factor that contributed to such a long-running event was transportation. There were no flights back then, meaning that athletes had to travel for months at a time to participate in the games. In addition, cost factors were as well relevant. The modern Olympic Games were still a brand new phenomenon, and as such, funding for them was not readily available (Evans, 2016). For instance, in the 1908 Games, the budget at the time was approximately $15,000, which, when inflation is accounted for, comes to about $1.8 million. Such figures indicate the relatively small scale of the Games then. Another interesting aspect of the 1908 games that can be contrasted is the number of athletes who participated in the games. In the 1908 Olympic Games, there were a total of 2,008 athletes (Harris, 2015). The athletes came from 22 countries with the vast majority of them being European or North American. More specifically, 1,891 athletes came from European nations, 199 came from North American countries, and 44 came from two other regions (14 from South Africa and 30 from Australia) (Evans, 2016). The figures represent the Eurocentric perception of the Olympics at the time. One major factor contributing to the games being so Eurocentric is the fact that numerous regions of the world were under various states of occupation. For instance, few African nations had declared their independence in 1908, and even South Africa’s participation was more of an extension of the British occupiers at the time (Raynham, 2016). Asian countries as well had problems with their relationships with European nations, and as 4 such, none of them participated in the game. Thus, the repertoire of events was relatively small compared to current standards of the Olympic Games. 1948 London Olympics The 1948 games were markedly different from the 1908 games. In a few respects, the games were similar to those held 40 years ago in the same country. For instance, the 1948 games hosted a total of 136 events across 22 sports, which is not a significant increase from the 1908 games, which had 110 events and 22 sports (Sheringham, 2012). However, in other respects, the 1948 London Olympics were bigger. For example, while the 1908 Olympics had only 22 participating countries, the 1948 games had a total of 59 participating nations (Evans, 2016; Young, 2004). The nations, in total, contributed 4,104 athletes, about double the number of athletes in the 1908 games. After 40 years, one would expect that the increased participation would lead to more athletes participating in the games. However, it is worth noting that the games were coming soon after the Second World War (Sheringham, 2012). The globe was still recovering from the greatest war ever fought. London, especially, which had suffered significant damage from Axis bombing raids, put in a significant amount of work to prepare for the games (Raynham, 2016). The budget for the games had increased as well. The 1948 games had an operating budget of a total of $761,000, which, when adjusted for inflation to 2019 figures comes to approximately $27.8 million. The figures indicate the added importance the games had within the broader geopolitical environment (Evans, 2016). The 1948 Olympic Games served as the first meeting of world nations in a peaceful environment since the World War. Nations that had been on opposing sides of the war came together, and as such, the games played a pivotal role in fostering world peace. 5 Another major difference between 1908 and the 1948 games was the media coverage. The 1948 games televised the events, though not live. Technological innovations primarily by the Technicolor Corporation had brought about a dramatic change in viewership, allowing millions of more people around the world to watch the events. While the 1948 games were not the first to incorporate visual media, they were the first to do so on a large scale. Yet another difference is the duration of the games (Evans, 2016). The 1908 games and those immediately preceding it were viewed as summer-long events spread out over months. In contrast, the 1948 games took place over just 16 days between July and August of that year. This represented a significantly improved planning and logistics framework for the games. 2012 London Olympics The new millennium ushered in the era of big-budget Olympic Productions. It is thus not surprising to learn that the most expensive Summer Olympic Games ever were all held in the new millennium. The 2012 Olympics cost approximately $10 billion. The games featured over 300 events in 39 disciplines with over 10,000 participants from 205 countries and territories. The greatly expanded repertoire of events represents significant changes that had taken place between the 1948 games and the 2012 games. For instance, almost every event had a women’s and men’s category, which led to a doubling of the number of sporting events (Evans, 2016). Thus, it is evident that the Olympic Games in 2012 had significantly more events than either the 1908 or the 1948 games. Overall, sporting events in the Olympics have undergone marginal increments throughout the years the games have been held. A comparison of the three London games in 1908, 1948, and 2012 provide snapshots of different eras of the Olympic Games. For instance, while the 1908 games had only 22 mostly European participating nations, the 2012 games had over 200 6 countries take part while the 1948 games had almost 60. Also, the number of sporting events increased as well, with the 1908 games having only 110 events and the 2012 games having over 300 sporting events. This growth in events serves as an indicator of the increasing popularity of the games, and the increasing importance of the Olympic Games to the global sporting and athletic community. 7 References Evans, G. (2016). London’s Olympic legacy: The inside track. Palgrave Macmillan. Harris, L. J. (2015). The 1908 London Olympics. In L. J. Harris, Britain and the Olympic Games, 1908–1920 (pp. 8–38). Palgrave Macmillan UK. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1137-49862-5_2 Raynham, A. (2016). The Olympic Games. Oxford University Press. Sheringham, S. (2012, January 20). London 2012: From wartime to the big time in 1948. BBC Sport. https://www.bbc.com/sport/olympics/16227748 Young, D. C. (2004). A brief history of the Olympic Games. Blackwell Pub.
