Once the postponement of the Olympics that were going to be held next summer in Tokyo was announced we can look back and remember the reasons why on very few occasions world sports authorities have been forced to postpone or definitively suspend such a great event. . It is the first interruption of the modern Games since and only world wars have managed to paralyze the Olympics. Now this sporting event has not been immune to the existence of boycotts conflicts and even a major volcanic eruption. The eruption of Vesuvius and the Olympics In Rome beat cities such as London Berlin and Turin as host of the Olympic Games. Instead after two years of preparations for the event disaster struck: Vesuvius erupted and caused serious damage to the towns near the foot of the volcano paralyzing the city of Naples.
Overwhelmed by the cost of recovery Italy was forced to withdraw its Olympic bid. The funds allocated to the Olympics were for the reconstruction of the beautiful and historic city in southern Italy former capital of the Kingdom of Naples under Spanish CXB Directory domination. But not even a volcanic eruption could cancel the Olympics. The International Olympic Committee decided to turn to London as the host and only gave the city months to prepare. The British Olympic Association made the most of that time and even managed to build a new stadium. London took over for the first of its three Olympic Games to date still as a backup event for another the Franco-British Exhibition.
Those Games although they lasted six months and four days and even lacked their own personality gave some advances for Olympism as it is known today with the first parade of nations at the inauguration and its marathon being the first with the current official distance of kilometers. In that test an almost collapsed Italian runner Dorando Pietri reached the finish line in first place supported by race officials who wanted to prevent him from dying from the effort in front of Queen Alexandra but for the same reason he was disqualified. In a private ceremony the queen gave Pietri a trophy for his efforts and the Italian ended up as a more significant Olympic celebrity than the gold winner the American John Joseph Hayes.
發表於 2024-3-14 13:45:20
