Rugby union at the 1908 Summer Olympics in the last week of Games that had taken place over six months. In 1908 Twickenham Stadium was still being built. The match was played at the White City Stadium, London, on an area alongside the Olympic Games swimming pool which measured 110 yards in length with a long line of netting stretched beside to catch flying balls. Large mattresses were spread along the rim of the pool to prevent injuries to falling players. One day was allocated to what was called the Olympic rugby tournament. The game was rather a damp squib and took place in a thick mid
Summer Olympic Games distance was chosen to ensure that the race finished in front of the box occupied by the British royal family. Thus the marathon had been for the first games in 1896, but was subsequently varied by up to due to local conditions such as street and stadium layout. At the six Olympic games between 1900 and 1920, the marathon was raced over six distances. At the end of the 1908 marathon the Italian runner Dorando Pietri was first to enter the stadium, but he was clearly in distress, and collapsed of exhaustion before he could complete the event. He was