The Paris Olympics of 100 years ago had shocking upsets and famous competitors – including poet Robert Graves

One hundred years ago, Paris held its second Olympic Games. Thanks to the film Chariots of Fire (1981), which dramatised the true story of two determined British sprinters, Eric Liddell and Harold Abrahams, as they trained for the competition, Paris 1924 is one of the most famous of the pre-second world war Olympic Games.

The modern Olympic Games were created by French educator and historian, Pierre de Coubertin. The 1924 games were the swan song for the father of the modern Olympic Games and his final competition as president of the International Olympic Committee.

The early games were far from the slick events attended by teams from around the globe that we know today. The previous games in Antwerp (1920) were staged in a country still recovering from the ravages of the first world war.

This time, the effects of the war had receded further, and the games attracted wider support. The number of competing nations increased by more than a third, jumping from 29 to 44. Among them, for the first time, were athletes representing the newly independent Irish Free State. This newfound popularity attracted 1,000 journalists to cover the 3,000 athletes who competed.

After Antwerp, the leaders of Britain’s Olympic team keenly felt the need to get more organised. From 1922, they acquired a permanent office in Piccadilly, new leadership and a royal patron, the Prince of Wales – a hallmark of their seriousness and new position in the national firmament.

With appeals to the public for donations, newspapers backed the call as a point of honour to enable Britain to send the best athletes, with the correct training and equipment. Among those athletes was David Cecil, competing in his first Olympic Games in the 110-metre hurdles. He went on to become chairman of the British Olympic Association from 1936 to 1966. Cecil was key to Team GB’s history and Britain’s involvement in the Olympics.

Some of the competitors at Paris 1924 went on to achieve fame in other fields. Team USA was represented by Benjamin McLane Spock, better known subsequently as the paediatrician, Dr Spock.

The US swimming team featured Johnny Weissmuller, who later played Tarzan in 12 films.

The poet Robert Graves, who went on to publish Goodbye to All That (1929) and I, Claudius (1934), also competed – but not in sports. Paris 1924 awarded medals for art, including architecture, literature, music, painting and “sculpturing”.

More medals for Team GB

Team GB won three gold medals in athletics. Harold Abrahams won gold in 100m, and Scotsman Eric Liddell won the 400m. Douglas Lowe also won gold (in the men’s 800 metres) and defended his title four years later in London.

Rowing was also a highly successful discipline for the Brits. Jack Beresford won the single sculls, and Trinity College, Cambridge’s team represented Britain victoriously in the coxless four.

The now unfamiliar “running target, double shot” event (which entailed shooting at a deer-shaped moving target) was won by another team of four British men, and there were a further two gold medals in the boxing. Harry Mitchell won the light-heavyweight category and Harry Mallin triumphed in the middleweight.

Mallin’s journey to the final was a rocky one. The decision in his third-round bout was overturned in his favour following a foul by his French opponent who had bitten him on the arms and chest, winning Mallin his gold medal.

Following a hand injury in the final, Mallin retired from competition as the only British boxer to have defended his title – a record he held until Nicola Adams defended her Olympic title at Rio 2016. Mallin was a constable and then a physical training instructor for the Metropolitan Police. Later he became one of the first British television sports commentators.

Blackpool’s Lucy Morton became the first British woman to win gold in an individual swimming event, paving the way for Judith Grinham, Anita Lonsborough and Rebecca Adlington, British gold medallists in subsequent Olympic Games.

Morton worked at St Anne’s Post Office in Blackpool and trained daily after finishing work. She had set the inaugural world records for the 150 yards backstroke and the 200 yards breaststroke in 1916, but then faced disappointment when the events were omitted at Antwerp 1920. When her chance approached at Paris 1924, she was assisted by Blackpool Council which opened their Cocker Street baths from their normal winter closure to enable her training.

At Paris, the American women’s team dominated. Morton was the only non-American woman to win. Indeed, her win was so unexpected that the British national anthem wasn’t ready to be played and a correctly sized flag couldn’t be found for the victory ceremony.

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Jenny Macleod received funding from Team GB and the University of Hull's UKRI ‘s Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Impact Acceleration Account (IAA) for this research.