Abstract
The seventh Olympic Games took place in Antwerp, Belgium between April and September 1920. Despite the impact of the war, the Games were expanded from Stockholm eight years before, with 29 nations competing, five of whom did so for the first time (Brazil, Monaco, New Zealand, Portugal and Estonia). As the British press feared, throughout 1919, Antwerp was not completely ready for the festival. Allen Guttmann states, ‘the facilities were far from ideal. The stadium was unfinished. The track was poorly built and heavy rains made it worse. The Belgian public took little notice of the games.’1 Despite this, the Games were a relative success.
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Notes
Allen Guttmann, The Olympics: A history of the modern Games (Illinois, University of Illinois Press, 1992), p. 39.
Bill Mallon and Anthony J Bijkerk, The 1920 Olympic Games: Results for all competitors in all events, with commentary (New York, Macfarland, 2009), p. 8.
Mike Huggins and Jack Williams, Sport and the English 1918–1939 (Bington, Routledge, 2006), p. 125.
Gerard J Degroot, Blighty, British society in the era of the Great War (Harlow, Longman, 1996), p. 332.
David Stevenson, The First World War and international politics (Abington, Oxford University Press, 1991), p. 254.
T O Lloyd, The British Empire 1588–1983 (London, Oxford University Press, 1984), p. 153.
Boria Majumdar and Nalin Mehta, Olympics: The India story (New Delhi, Harper Collins, 2012), p. 273.
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© 2015 Luke J. Harris
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Harris, L.J. (2015). The 1920 Antwerp Olympics. In: Britain and the Olympic Games, 1908–1920. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-49862-5_10
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-49862-5_10
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
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