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STOCKHOLM - THE OLYMPIC GAMES, 1912

Trials and tribulations in outdoor tennis, football, wrestling and marathon running at the 1912 Stockholm Olympic Games.

Sport 1912 9 mins Silent

Overview

Hold the front page, Britain wins a football tournament! It was a golden era for Team GB, as they clinched a second successive Olympic gold medal, both times beating Denmark. Tennis was contested both indoors and outdoors but with the latter clashing with Wimbledon, all British players and many others decided against taking part in the Olympics. The marathon took place in unusually hot weather, with only half the field completing the race.

The marathon saw the Olympic Games' first fatality as the Portuguese marathon runner Francisco Lázaro succumbed to the heat and died in hospital the following day. Japan's Shizo Kanakuri failed to finish the race, and returned to Japan without informing the race officials. In the 1960s the 'missing' Japanese runner was tracked down by a Swedish journalist and in 1967 was invited back to Sweden. He finally finished his race with a time of 54 years, 8 months, 6 days, 8 hours, 32 minutes and 20.3 seconds.