1928 Summer Olympics

Organization and innovations

• These were the first Olympics to be organized under the IOC presidency of Henri de Baillet-Latour.
• These Games were the first to bear the name "Summer Olympic Games", to distinguish them from the Winter Olympic Games (held since 1924).
• Although competitions began in May 17, 1928. These Games were the first to feature a schedule of sixteen days in between ceremonies. Competitions had been stretched out over four months, the last event being on August 12, 1928.
• The events were entirely funded through private donations with the government of the host nation providing no financial support for the first time.
• The American company Coca-Cola made its first appearance as an official sponsor of the Olympic Games, remaining the oldest Olympic sponsor to this day.

Ceremonies and traditions

• A symbolic fire was lit for the first time during the Olympics, a tradition that continues today. The first Olympic flame and torch relay, however, would not take place until the 1936 Summer Olympics.
• For the first time, the parade of nations started with Greece, which holds the origins of the Olympics, and ended with the host country, a tradition that has continued ever since.
• The Games were officially opened by Prince Hendrik, consort of Queen Wilhelmina, who had authorized her husband to deputize for her. The Queen was unable to attend the opening ceremony as she was on holiday in Norway and did not want to disrupt her trip. This was the second time a head of state had not personally officiated at an Olympic opening ceremony (the first occasion being the 1904 Games in St. Louis, Missouri, which were officially opened by David R. Francis, the Mayor of St. Louis). The Queen had initially refused to appear at either the opening or closing ceremony; it is thought that she objected to the Netherlands hosting the 1928 Games as she considered the Olympics a demonstration of paganism. However, she returned from Norway before the conclusion of the Games, to be present at the closing ceremony, and she presented the first prizes at the prize distribution which was held immediately beforehand.

Athlete highlights

• Paavo Nurmi of Finland won his ninth, and final, gold medal in the 10,000 m race.
• Canadian athlete Percy Williams exceeded expectations by winning both the 100 m and 200 m sprint events.
• Crown Prince Olav, who would later become King of Norway, won a gold medal in the 6 meter sailing event.
• Pat O'Callaghan won the first ever medal for a newly independent Ireland, taking gold in the hammer throw.
• Mikio Oda of Japan won the triple jump event with a result of 15.21 m (49 ft 10.82 in), becoming the first gold medalist from an Asian country.
• Betty Robinson of the USA won the women's 100 metres in a world record time of 12.2 seconds. She was still just 16 years of age at the time.
• Algerian-born marathon runner Boughera El Ouafi won a gold medal for France in the men's marathon.
• Johnny Weissmuller, who later appeared in several Tarzan movies, won two gold medals in swimming: an individual gold in the men's 100 m freestyle, and a team gold in the men's 4 × 200 m freestyle relay.
• Germany returned to the Olympic Games for the first time since 1912, after being banned from the 1920 and 1924 Games due to its role in World War I. The German team immediately finished second in the 1928 medal count.
• South American football made a definite breakthrough, as Uruguay retained its title by defeating Argentina.
• India took its first ever gold medal in field hockey, beginning a streak of six consecutive gold medals in the sport.

Sports

During the 1928 Summer Olympics, there were 14 sports, 20 disciplines and 109 events in the tournament. In parentheses is the number of events per discipline.

• Aquatics
  • Diving (4)
  • Swimming (11)
  • Water polo (1)
• Athletics (27)
• Boxing (8)
• Cycling
  • Road (2)
  • Track (4)
• Equestrian
  • Dressage (2)
  • Eventing (2)
  • Show jumping (2)
• Fencing (7)
• Field hockey (1)
• Football (1)
• Gymnastics (8)
• Modern pentathlon (1)
• Rowing (7)
• Sailing (3)
• Weightlifting (5)
• Wrestling
  • Freestyle (7)
  • Greco-Roman (6)

Women's athletics and team gymnastics debuted at these Olympics, in spite of criticism. Five women's athletics events were added: 100 meters, 800 meters, high jump, discus, and 400 meter hurdles. In protest of the limited number of events, British women athletes, boycotted the Games. Halina Konopacka of Poland became the first female Olympic track and field champion. Reports that the 800 meter run ended with several of the competitors being completely exhausted were widely (and erroneously) circulated. As a result, the IOC decided that women were too frail for long-distance running, and women's Olympic running events were limited to 200 meters until the 1960s.

Tennis disappeared from the program until it reappeared in 1968 as a demonstration sport.

Demonstration sports

• Kaatsen (not considered official by the IOC)
• Korfball
• Lacrosse

These Games also included art competitions in five categories: architecture, painting, sculpture, literature, and music. However, the IOC no longer considers these to be official medal events, so the medals awarded are not included in today's Olympic medal counts.

Venues

Fourteen sports venues were used for the 1928 Summer Olympics. The Swim Stadium was demolished in 1929. The Het Kasteel football stadium was renovated in 1998–99. The Monnikenhuize stadium was demolished in 1950. The Schermzaal sports hall has also been demolished. The Olympic Stadium was renovated between 1996 and 2000, and is still in use. The Old Stadion was demolished in 1929 and replaced with housing in the Amsterdam area.

Many cars were expected for the Games, but Amsterdam had at most 2,000 single-car parking spaces. Consequently, several new parking sites were provided, and a special parking symbol was launched to show foreign visitors where they could park. The white P on a blue background was to become the international traffic sign for parking, and is still used today. Athletics events were held on a 400-meter track, later becoming the standard for athletics tracks.

Participating nations

A total of 46 nations were represented at the Amsterdam Games. Malta, Panama, and Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) competed at the Olympic Games for the first time. Germany returned after having been banned in 1920 and 1924.

The nations that participated in the previous games in Paris 1924 but were absent in Amsterdam 1928 were Brazil and Ecuador.

At the time, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa and Ireland were all dominions of the British Empire. India and Rhodesia were also a part of the British Empire, but were not dominions. For other sovereign states (i.e. United States, France, Argentina, Japan, etc.) and the international community as a whole (i.e. League of Nations) the term dominion, used internally in the British Empire, was very ambiguous, meaning "something between a colony and state". It was only years later with the Statute of Westminster 1931 that this ambiguity would be dispelled. Philippines was an unincorporated territory and commonwealth of the United States.

Number of athletes by National Olympic Committees

Medal count

These are the top ten nations that won medals at the 1928 Games.

Poster

The official poster for the Games displaying a running man in a white shirt was designed by Jos Rovers however the IOC never succeeded in obtaining the copyright of the image. The IOC used a different poster, with the German text Olympische Spiele, and an athlete partly covered in the Dutch national flag, holding a peace leaf in his hand. The poster was made for a German book about the Amsterdam Olympics.

Last surviving competitor

The last living competitor of the 1928 Summer Olympics was Carla Marangoni, a member of the silver medal-winning Italian gymnastic team who had been twelve years old during the Olympics. Marangoni died 18 January 2018, at the age of 102 as the oldest living Olympic medalist at the time of her death.