1906 Summer Olympics
The fourth modern Olympic games, held in Athens. The games opened on May 22. They are also known as the 1906 Intercalated Games.
These games were staged as a celebration of the tenth anniversary of the modern Games. They were to be the first games in a new schedule, where every four years, in between the internationally organised games, there would be intermediate games held in Greece. This was apparently a bit of a compromise: After the less than perfect Paris 1900 and St. Louis 1904 Olympic Games, both the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Greeks wanted to recapture the spirit of Athens 1896. The IOC realized this new scheme, though somewhat a departure from the original idea, would give the games much needed stability. To the Greeks, the schedule meant the games would come "home" every four years, although it did not fullfill their dream of organising all Olympic Games. However, Pierre de Coubertin himself is said to have considered the idea a Greek mutiny.
Political problems prevented Greece from keeping to the schedule for 1910, and after the next two games were skipped due to World War I, the idea was abandoned. As a consequence, and maybe due to personal views of various IOC chairmen, the IOC retroactively downgraded the 1906 games. As more stress was placed on the continuing sequence of four-year olympiads, the games of 1906 did not fit in. Hence, the IOC does not recognize Athens 1906 as Olympic Games, and does not regard any events occurring there, such as the setting of new records or the winning of medals, as official.
The 1906 games were quite successful. Unlike the 1900, 1904 or 1908 games, they were neither stretched out over months nor overshadowed by an international exhibition. Their crisp format was most likely instrumental in the continued existence of the games. This is one reason a large number of people continue to press the IOC to recognise the 1906 games.
The idea of intermediate games was reintroduced in 1994 when the cycle for the Winter Olympic Games was shifted two years, resulting in Olympics every two years, with alternating summer and winter Olympics.
