The Games begin to progress

Olympic 1912 in Stockholm.

In 1912 the Stockholm Games at last gave Pierre de Coubertin something to smile about. Not only had they become a universal event - for the first time the five continents were represented (around 2,500 athletes from 28 countries) - but they were also staged over a shorter time period (May 5 - July 22) and independent of any commercial exhibition.

Four personalities marked these Games - America's Ralph Craig, winner of the 100m and 200m, Finland's Hannes Kolehmainen, the triple cross country champion, the Hawaiian Paoa Duke Kahanamoku, inaugurator of the crawl in swimming, and the American Indian from Irish descent, Jim Thorpe, later to be found guilty of having made money from baseball before the games. Cleared of the charge 70 years later the IOC granted him posthumous gold medals for a series of spectacular wins in the pentathlon and decathlon.

Once again there was drama in the marathon. Under a leaden sky 21-year-old Francisco Lazaro of Portugal fell victim to the heat. He collapsed and died the next day in hospital.