The 1912 Stockholm Olympics

On July 6, 1912, King Gustaf V of Sweden inaugurated the Fifth Olympiad at the Olympic Stadium in Stockholm. In the following weeks, 2,380 competitors from 27 nations representing all five continents participated in well-organized competitions in perfect weather conditions. The largest Olympics to date, the Stockholm Games have thus gone down in history as the Sunshine Olympics, or ""the Swedish Masterpiece."" Since that achievement, and despite numerous attempts by other Swedish cities, Sweden has not yet managed to host the Olympic Games again. This work examines the 1912 Stockholm Olympics from a variety of perspectives from different academic disciplines, exploring the preparations, organization, competitions, participants, and spectators, as well as the continuing significance of the 1912 Games to sport Sweden, the future of Olympic movement, and Swedish society.