MelissaA
Brenton
Shilpa Karhik
CONTROVERSY During The 1908 OLYMPICS!
August 25th 2008 11:30
The 1908 Summer Olympics, held in London endured quite a bit of controversy......
At the opening parade the Finnish team were expected to march under a Russian flag instead of a Finnish one so they chose to march without a flag at all.
The Swedish flag had not been displayed above the stadium, so the members of the Swedish team decided not to take part in the ceremony.
The United States flag had also not been displayed above the stadium before the opening so the United States' flag bearer refused to dip the flag to the royal box which has led to a precedent whereby ever since, even though international customs encourage dipping the flag in respect to heads of state, US flag bearers no longer do.
The 400 metres was won by British runner Lieutenant Wyndham Halswelle after he ran the track on his own because the other US runners refused to run due to an earlier incident where one of them had been accussed of interference.
Finally, at the end of the marathon, Italian Dorando Pietri who was the first to enter the stadium, collapsed several times and then ran the wrong way.
Not far from the finish, two officials took him by the arms and brought him to the line.
As a consequence, after crossing the line he was disqualified. The medal went to 2nd placed American Johnny Hayes, but as Pietri had not actually been responsible for his disqualification, the next day he was awarded a gold cup.
At the opening parade the Finnish team were expected to march under a Russian flag instead of a Finnish one so they chose to march without a flag at all.
The Swedish flag had not been displayed above the stadium, so the members of the Swedish team decided not to take part in the ceremony.
The United States flag had also not been displayed above the stadium before the opening so the United States' flag bearer refused to dip the flag to the royal box which has led to a precedent whereby ever since, even though international customs encourage dipping the flag in respect to heads of state, US flag bearers no longer do.
The 400 metres was won by British runner Lieutenant Wyndham Halswelle after he ran the track on his own because the other US runners refused to run due to an earlier incident where one of them had been accussed of interference.
Finally, at the end of the marathon, Italian Dorando Pietri who was the first to enter the stadium, collapsed several times and then ran the wrong way.
Not far from the finish, two officials took him by the arms and brought him to the line.
As a consequence, after crossing the line he was disqualified. The medal went to 2nd placed American Johnny Hayes, but as Pietri had not actually been responsible for his disqualification, the next day he was awarded a gold cup.
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