The first time London hosted the Olympics, it was as a backup - the
Games, originally scheduled to take place in Rome, were relocated to
London after Mount Vesuvius erupted. The year was 1908, a bygone era of
international competition when tug-of-war and the ten-mile walk were
official sports, women competed in floor-length skirts, and it took men a
glacial 10.8 seconds to complete the hundred-meter dash.
Only at these early stages of the Olympic Games could a runner win the
marathon after falling repeatedly and running in the wrong direction (he
was later disqualified due to the physical assistance he received from a
megaphone-toting man in a boater hat, see picture above). In
celebration of the 2012 London Games, here's a look back at
the early days.
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