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Olympic Games exhibition in Herts
A winning line-up of fascinating facts, figures and photographs marking the centenary of the first-ever London Olympic Games will be on display at Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies during August.
The exhibition traces the history of the Games from 1906, when the eruption of Mount Vesuvius meant that Italy could not host the event, and the Games were reassigned to London for 1908.
To meet the challenge, the 100,000-capacity Stadium (known thereafter as White City) had to be built in 10 months. It included cycling and running tracks, a football field, a gymnastics platform and a swimming pool with a collapsible high-diving tower.
King Edward VII officially opened the Games in July 1908. Twenty-two nations fielding 2,008 athletes took part in more than one hundred events. The sports represented included archery, athletics, boxing, cycling, fencing, football, gymnastics, lacrosse, polo, rowing, rugby, sailing, ice skating, tennis, tug-of-war, water motor sports and wrestling.
For the first and only time in the history of the Games, Great Britain was the best performing team overall, with 56 gold medals. However, it was also the first time the words: “the most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part” were proclaimed.
Lord Desborough (William Henry Grenfell), the first President of the British Olympic Association, played a vital role in getting everything ready in time for the event. A remarkable and charismatic character - as well as a phenomenal sportsman himself - Lord Desborough is closely linked with the Panshanger estate near Welwyn through his marriage to Ethel Anne Priscilla Fane. Ethel, or Ettie to her friends, inherited Panshanger in 1913 upon the death of her aunt, Countess Cowper.
The exhibition also looks back to the 1948 London Olympics, which were the first to be shown on home television, for the few who had their own sets. The route for the Marathon took the athletes through parts of Hertfordshire via Mill Hill, past the Thatched Barn on the Barnet by-pass and the Elstree War Memorial, along Theobald Street and into Radlett.
The course then took the runners through Elstree village and rejoined the main road to Edgware for the final run back in to the stadium.
Serious sports buffs will find a wealth of information about many of Hertfordshire’s own Olympians – local people who have played their part at the various Games over the years.
Harold Abrahams - who represented Britain in the 1924 (Paris) Olympics, where he won the gold Medal and equalled the Olympic record in the 100m dash. The story of his victory in Paris is told in the film Chariots of Fire. He lived in Hertfordshire with his family at Rickmansworth, Hoddesdon and Great Amwell. He is buried in Great Amwell churchyard with his wife Sybil.
Tom Hampson of Stevenage - who taught History at St Albans School, won the 800-metre final at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics in a world record time of 1 minute 49.7 seconds. He was also a member of the 4x400m-relay team that won the Silver medal. After serving in the RAF during the war he became a social welfare officer for Stevenage, where he settled in 1954. He is buried in St Mary’s churchyard.
Bob Shaw of Berkhamsted - who worked at Cooper Research Station at Berkhamsted was a member of the Achilles Athletic Club, and represented Britain in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics in the hurdles. He was Amateur Athletics Association champion for the 400 metres hurdles in 1955, and Oxford “Blue” and holder of the British universities record for the 120 and 440 yards hurdles.
The display will be in place in the Hertfordshire Archives foyer at County Hall, Hertford for the whole of August.
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