It was in the 1908 Olympic Games that the exact distance of a marathon was established as 26 miles and 365 yards. Diving was added to the events for this year.

Approximately 2,000 athletes participated, representing 22 countries.

The 1948 Olympic Games in London, Kingdom

Host city	London, United Kingdom
Nations participating	59[1]
Athletes participating	4,104 (3,714 men, 390 women)[1]
Events	136 in 17 sports
Opening ceremony	29 July
Closing ceremony	14 August
Officially opened by	King George VI[1]
Athlete's Oath	Donald Finlay[1]
Olympic Torch	John Mark[1]
Stadium	Wembley Stadium

Though World War II was over, Europe was still ravaged from the war. When it was announced that the Olympic Games would be resumed, many debated whether it was wise to have a festival when many European countries were in ruins and the people near starvation. To limit the United Kingdom's responsibility to feed all the athletes, it was agreed that the participants would bring their own food. Surplus food was donated to British hospitals.

No new facilities were built for these Games, but the Wembley Stadium had survived the war and proved adequate. No Olympic Village was erected; the male athletes were housed at an army camp in Uxbridge and the women housed at Southlands College in dormitories.

Germany and Japan, the aggressors of World War II, were not invited to participate.

There was one major snafu at the Games. Though the United States had won the 400-meter relay by a full eighteen feet, a judge ruled that one of the U.S. team members had passed the baton outside of the passing zone. Thus, the U.S. team was disqualified. The medals were handed out, the national anthems were played. The United States officially protested the ruling and after careful review of the films and photographs taken of the baton pass, the judges decided that the pass had been completely legal; thus the United States team was the real winner. The British team had to give up their gold medals and received silver medals (which had been given up by the Italian team). The Italian team then received the bronze medals which had been given up by the Hungarian team.

Though there had been much debate as to whether or not to hold the 1948 Olympic Games, the Games turned out to be very popular and a great success. Approximately 4,000 athletes participated, representing 59 countries.

Opening ceremony

The XIV Olympic Games opens in London, 1948

The Games opened on 29 July, a brilliantly sunny day. Army bands began playing at 2 pm for the 85,000 spectators in Wembley Stadium. The international and national organisers arrived at 2.35 pm and George VI and Queen Elizabeth, with Queen Mary and other members of the Royal Family, at 2.45 pm. Fifteen minutes later the competitors entered the stadium in a procession that took 50 minutes. The last team was that of the United Kingdom. When it had passed the saluting base, Lord Burghley began his welcome:

Your Majesty: The hour has struck. A visionary dream has today become a glorious reality. At the end of the worldwide struggle in 1945, many institutions and associations were found to have withered and only the strongest had survived. How, many wondered, had the great Olympic Movement prospered?

After welcoming the athletes to two weeks of "keen but friendly rivalry", he said London represented a "warm flame of hope for a better understanding in the world which has burned so low."^[13]

At 4 pm, the time shown on Big Ben on the London Games symbol, the King declared the Games open, 2,500 pigeons were set free and the Olympic Flag raised to its 35 ft (11 m) flagpole at the end of the stadium. The Royal Horse Artillery sounded a 21-gun salute and the last runner in the Torch Relay ran a lap of the track – created with cinders from the domestic coal fires of Leicester – and climbed the steps to the Olympic cauldron. After saluting the crowd, he turned and lit the flame. After more speeches, Donald Finlay of the British team (given his RAF rank of Wing Commander) took the Olympic Oath on behalf of all competitors. The National Anthem was sung and the massed athletes turned and marched out of the stadium, led by Greece, tailed by Britain.

The 580-page official report concluded:

Thus were launched the Olympic Games of London, under the most happy auspices. The smooth-running Ceremony, which profoundly moved not only all who saw it but also the millions who were listening-in on the radio throughout the world, and the glorious weather in which it took place, combined to give birth to a spirit which was to permeate the whole of the following two weeks of thrilling and intensive sport.

The opening ceremony, and over 60 hours of other coverage during the Games, was broadcast live on BBC television. The BBC had paid a sum of £1000 for the broadcasting rights

Aerial view of the Olympic Park in April 2012