The 1904 Olympic Games

The 1904 Olympic Games in St. Louis were both unusual and controversial. One of the major problems for Olympic scholars has been to determine which of the events at these Games were truly of Olympic caliber. The Games were included as part of the World’s Fair, and every athletic contest that took place under the Fair’s auspices was deemed “Olympic.” These activities included croquet and water polo, high school and college championships in football and basketball, as well as the “Anthropology Days” events in which members of “primitive” “tribes” competed against one another.
The author demonstrates, after great deliberation, that 16 events of the 21 overall were truly Olympic sports and gives descriptions, scores, and analyses for each (as well as for the five non–Olympic events). Appendices include literature relating to these games, lists of noncompeting foreign entrants, and a guide to all competitors.

Bill Mallon is a co-founder and vice-president of the International Society of Olympic Historians (ISOH) and the original editor of the Journal of Olympic History. He is a surgeon in Durham, North Carolina.

Bill Mallon
Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 287
Bibliographic Info: tables, statistics, appendices, notes, index
Copyright Date: 2009 [1999]
pISBN: 978-0-7864-4066-5
eISBN: 978-1-4766-2160-9
Imprint: McFarland
Series: History of the Early Olympics

Introduction      ix

Abbreviations      xi

References      xiii

1904 Olympic Games—Analysis and Summaries      1

SUMMARY STATISTICS      16

NOTES      25

The 1904 “Official Reports”      27

Olympic Games ( James E. Sullivan)      28

NOTES      38

The Olympic Games 1904 (Charles J. P. Lucas)      38

Archery      43

NOTES      47

Athletics (Track & Field)      49

NOTES      106

Boxing      109

NOTES      113

Cycling      114

NOTES      126

Diving      128

NOTES      129

Fencing      130

NOTES      133

Football (Association Football [Soccer])      135

NOTES      137

Golf      138

NOTES      147

vii

Gymnastics      149

NOTES      164

Lacrosse      165

NOTES      166

Rowing & Sculling      168

NOTES      172

Swimming      173

NOTES      179

Tennis (Lawn)      181

NOTES      190

Tug-of-War      191

NOTES      193

Weightlifting      194

NOTES      196

Wrestling      197

NOTES      202

Non-Olympic Sports      204

American Football (Colleges)      204

Anthropology Days at the Stadium      205

Baseball      212

Basketball      212

Roque      218

Water Polo      219

NOTES      220

Appendix I: 1904 Olympic Sports and Events in the Literature      223

Appendix II: Non-Competing Foreign Entrants      229

Appendix III: Index of Competitors (by Country)      233

Index      257

“highly recommended”—ARBA; “offers more value and depth than the [competition]”—Reference Reviews; “this book provides numerous interesting facts about the poorly documented early years of Olympic history”—Booklist; “in-depth…invaluable”—Rettig on Reference; “[an] absolute must for any library,”—Journal of Olympic History.