2. The 1928 Summer Olympics,
officially known as the Games
of the IX Olympiad, was
an international multi-sport
event which was celebrated in
1928 in Amsterdam.
Amsterdam had bid for the
1920 and 1924 Olympic
Games, but had to give way to
war-victim Antwerp, Belgium,
and Pierre de
Coubertin's Paris, respectively.
The only other candidate city
for the 1928 Games was Los
Angeles, which would host
thOlympics four years later.
3. HIGHLIGHTS
For the first time, the Olympic Flame was lit during the
Olympics. The torch relay, however, would not occur 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 which continues today.
Johnny Weissmuller, won two gold medals in swimming.
Paavo Nurmi of Finland won his ninth and final gold medal, in
the 10,000 m race.
Canada's Percy Williams surprised everyone by winning both
the 100 m and 200 m sprint events.
4. South American football made a definite
breakthrough, as Uruguay retained its title by
defeating Argentina.
India took its first ever gold in the sport of field
hockey, beginning a streak of six consecutive gold
medals in the sport.
The captain of Japan team, Mikio Oda won the triple
jump event with a result of 15.21 meters. He is the
first gold medalist from Asian countries.
Germany returned to the Olympic Games for the first
time since 1912, after being banned from the 1920
and 1924 Games. The German team finished second
in the 1928 medal count.
Helena Nordheim, Anna Dresden-Polak and Jud
Simons won gold medals. They were later killed at
the Sobibor extermination camp in German-occupied
Poland as part of the Holocaust, where their coach
Gerrit Kleerekoper was also killed.
5. PAAVO NURMI
Paavo Johannes Nurmi 13 June 1897 – 2
October 1973 was a Finnish middle and long
distance runner. He was nicknamed as the
"Flying Finn" as he dominated distance running
in the early 20th century. Nurmi set 22 official
world records at distances between 1,500
metres and 20 kilometres, and won a total of
nine gold and three silver medals in his twelve
events in the Olympic Games. At his peak,
Nurmi was undefeated at distances from 800 m
upwards for 121 races. Throughout his 14-year
career, he remained unbeaten in cross country
events and the 10,000 m.
8. SPORTS
During the Summer Olympics, there were 16 sports and 109
events in the tournament. In parentheses is the number of
events per sport.
The sports of these Olimpics Games are:
Athletics Boxing Cycling Diving Equestrian Fencing Football G
ymnastics Field hockey Modern pentathlon Rowing Sailing
Swimming Water polo Weightlifting Wrestling.
Women's athletics and gymnastics debuted at these Olympics,
in spite of criticism. Halina Konopacka of Poland became the
first female Olympic track and field champion. The 800 meter
run ended with several of the competitors being completely
exhausted, so running events for women longer than 200
meters were not included in the Olympics until the 1960s.
Tennis disappeared from the program, only to reappear in 1968
as a demonstration sport.
9. PARTICIPATING NATIONS
A total of 46 nations were
represented at the Amsterdam
Games. Malta, Panama,
and Zimbabwe competed at the
Olympic Games for the first
time. Germany returned after having
been banned in 1920 and 1924
10. Argentina(81)
Australia (18)
Austria (73)
Belgium(186)
Bulgaria (5)
Canada (69)
Chile (38)
Cuba (1)
Czechoslovakia(70)
Denmark (91)
Egypt (32)
Estonia (20)
Finland (69)
France (255)
Germany(296)
Great Britain(232)
11. Greece (23)
Haiti (2)
Hungary (109)
India (21)
Ireland (27)
Italy (174)
Japan (43)
Latvia (14)
Lithuania (12)
Luxembourg (46)
Malta (9)
Mexico (30)
Monaco (7)
Netherlands (264) (Host nation)
New Zealand (10)
Norway (52)
12. Panama (1)
Philippines(4)
Poland (93)
Portugal (31)
Rhodesia (2)
Romania (29)
South Africa(24)
Spain (80)
Sweden(100)
Switzerland(133)
Turkey (31)
United States (280)
Uruguay (22)
Yugoslavia(34)
13. COUNTRY WITH MORE MEDALS
The country with most medals was the United States
with 22 golds, 18 silvers and 16 bronzes for a total of
56 medals, 25 medals more than Germany which was
the second in ranquink while that Spain only
harvested a gold medal at the games was in hipic
14. SPANISH DELEGATION
Spain was represented at the Olympic Games in
Amsterdam 1928 by a delegation of 85 athletes (all
male) who participated in 9 sports. The bearer of the
flag in the opening ceremony was the athlete Diego
Ordóñez.
