1908 summer games

the 1908 summer games were held in London, England and were held from April 27 to October 31. these games were originally awarded to Rome, Italy but the disastrous eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, so the finances that were going to the games ended up going to the rebuild. so they got moved. this was the first games to have a parade of nations. Finland was a part of Russia so it was unclear whether they would march under their own flag or the Russian flag so they entered without one. the Swedish flag was not displayed at the stadium so Sweden did not participate in the parade of nations. 22 nations participated in the games. one highlight was one of the more memorable incidents in the marathon. Dorando Pietri was the first runner to enter the stadium. he collapse several times and even went the wrong way. not far from the finish line, he got help from two officials to cross the finish line first. runner up Johnny Hayes protested the result and Pietri ended up disqualified. another highlight was the first introduction of winter sports. four figure skating events took place, months after the rest of the competition (hence the late finish of the games. John Taylor of the United States was the first African American to win a medal when he was part of the relay team that won gold. Great Britain won the most medals, a little more than triple than what the United Stares had. (146 to 47). Canada won 16 medals at these games (3g 3s and 10b). below is the poster of these games.