Italian authorities were preparing infrastructure for the games when Mount Vesuvius erupted on April 7, 1906, devastating the nearby city of Naples. Funds that were to have gone to the Olympics were diverted to the reconstruction of Naples, so a new venue was required. London was selected, and the games were held in White City alongside the Franco-British Exhibition, which at the time was the more noteworthy event.
The White City Stadium, built in very short time especially for the games, held 68,000 people and was considered by some to be a technological marvel for the time. The distance from the start of the Marathon to the finish at the stadium was established at this games; 26 miles, 385 yards. The starting line was moved to allow the Royal Family a good view.
The games were surrounded by controversy. On opening day, it was the first time the various countries marched around an Olympic stadium behind their national flags. The Finnish team were expected to march under the Russian flag rather than the Finnish flag, so chose to march without a flag at all. Irish athletes were compelled to compete for the British team so many of them withdrew. The United States flag had not been displayed above the stadium before the opening so the United States' flag bearer refused to dip the flag to the royal box, saying "This flag dips to no earthly king."
The 1908 Olympics also prompted the establishment of standard rules for sports, and the selection of judges from different countries, rather than just the host. The reason for this was the 400 metre run in which the US winner was accused of interfering with the British runner. Part of the problem was the different definition of interference under British and US rules. The race was re-run, but the Americans refused to participate. The British runner, Wyndham Halswelle, won by running around the track on his own because three of the four original runners had been American.
The most famous incident of the games came at the end of the marathon. It occurred when the first runner to re-enter the stadium, Dorando Pietri of Italy, collapsed several times and ran the wrong way. He was helped to the finishing line and was disqualified. The medal went to American John Hayes who was second over the line, but the glory went to Pietri.
The Marathon distance is now fixed at 42.195 km (26 miles 385 yards) and has been since 1924. Before that time, the distance was not fixed and varied around 40 km according to local circumstances. The first race in 1896 was 40 km. The 1908 race was 42.195 km but the next two Olympics in 1912 and 1920 used different distances. It was only in 1924 that the distance was fixed.
These Games were the first to include Winter events, as was originally proposed for the Games. There were four figure skating events contested. However, the on ice events occurred months separated from most of the other events.
