Olympic Cavalcade

CHAPTER VII IVTH OLYMPIC GAMES IN LONDON, I9o8 - THE British Olympic Association was represented at the Brussels Con– ference on Physic~l Education, .lield in June, I90), and arthe Conference held in the Comedie frans:aise in Paris in May, I9o6. Lord Desborough returned fr-pm Athens ip. I9o6 with the proposal that, within the next two years, England should organize the next Olympiad, for which Paris and St. Louis had not found four years too long a period. _ _ It is the custom when one Olympiad is concluded to all?t ~he next cele– bration in the quadrennial cycle to some parti<>-ular city. Lord Desborough signified his willingness to undertake the task, provided the A~sociations of his country were agt;eeable. This, then, was the position ?S he described it in an article which was published in the National Review during tlie sum~er oC 1908: - - - -"The 0 ly~pic Gq.mes of I 908 had been fix;d to take plac; at Rome, bu~ - some unexpected difficulties prevepted the Italian Committee ftom carrying -our their intention, and.:_ at the Celebration ofthe Athenian Olympic Games in I9o6 - (a festival ofa separate cycle orgaJJized by Greece to take-place iir their magnifi– cent stadium) a "!eef_ing of the International Committee was -held, and I was a;sked whether I thought it possible fo_r the Gq_mes to-be held in_Lendon in Io/08,~instead of at Rome. An organizarwn already e~ted in tlie-'13ritish Olympi~ _ Association, which ~ad been formed, wiih- otberr rep;esenting each .of other countt_:ies acting tvg~ther under B'?zr61i de Coubertin's schefr]l, and upon ~ my return to England I addressed a le~ter to the_greaf:athletic and_ sp{jrting associa– tions in England, asking whether fhey w ould-appfoYe ofholding the Games in England and give their assistance. The answers received, being entirely_fovour– able, the British Olympif Council jvas formed by the election of delegates accredited by each oft he:Se great organizatfo!J;S an(lit_ was decided to accept :[he invitation given at Atlz.~ns by the]nternationa_l Olympic Committee to hold-the- Games of I908 in t!iis COztntry. - - - "T-he undertaking, in any case arduous' was ma-de more dijfiGult PY t!te~ short-– ness oftime at our diSposal. . . . But we were extremelyfortunate in havingfot our honm:ary secretary -the Rev. R. S. de Courcy Lalfan, a fiiend of Baron Pierre de _Coupertin, whose energy and en.thu;iasm he shares. ~hatever succe~s attended our undertaking mU.st be 7argely due to tlictt gentlepaii, and to t.he– loyal help accorded to us by the various sporting and athle~ic associations com– posing our Council. The work-has J fen enormous, as_will bf realqe'd when it is stated that there are=more than tWenty-three separate comj_etitions, and thatfor s -~ .:::::; - 59 -