Early Olympics

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.