Jeu de paume at the 1908 Summer Olympics Jeu de paume at the 1908 Summer Olympics Jeu de paume was an event contested at the 1908 Summer Olympics. This was the only Summer Olympic Games to contain this sport as a medal event. An outdoor version called longue paume was a demonstration sport at the 1900 Summer Olympics. Real tennis, as jeu de paume is called in the United Kingdom, was an exhibition event at the 1924 Summer Olympics. In the Official Report of the 1908 Olympic Games, the sport is referred to as "Tennis (jeu de paume)" while tennis is named "lawn tennis." The competition venue was
Ainay several kings of France during the 16th century, when the French royal court was still itinerant rather than having a permanent base in Versailles or Paris. In 1536 the court set up home in Lyon, whilst Francis I of France was gathering his troops to the south-east of Avignon to face Charles V's invasion of Provence. On 2 August that year the dauphin Francis played at a jeu de paume court "pré[s] d'Ainay" and, getting overheated, drank a glass of iced water which proved fatal (he died a few days later at Tournon-sur-Rhône, aged 18). This event may have dissuaded