Information about 1920 Summer Olympics

Games of the VII Olympiad
Games of the VII Olympiad
Host city	Antwerp, Belgium
Nations participating	29
Athletes participating	2,626 (2,561 men, 65 women)
Events	154 in 22 sports
Opening ceremony	April 20
Closing ceremony	September 12
Officially opened by	Albert I of Belgium
Athlete's Oath	Victor Boin
Stadium	Olympisch Stadion

The 1920 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the VII Olympiad, were held in 1920 in Antwerp, Belgium. The 1920 Games were awarded to Antwerp to honor the suffering that had been inflicted on the Belgian people during the war.[1]

The 1916 Summer Olympics, to be held in the German Empire capital Berlin had been canceled. The Aftermath of World War I and the Paris Peace Conference, 1919 affected the Olympic Games not only due to new states being created, but also by sanctions against the nations that lost the war and received the blame for starting it.

Budapest had initially won to host the 1920 games over Amsterdam and Lyon, but as the Austro-Hungarian Empire had been a German ally in the First World War, not only the right to host the Games was stripped in April 1919 from the now independent Hungary, but also the right to participate, along with other Central Powers allies Germany, Austria, Bulgaria and Turkey. Germany, which unlike other remained banned until 1925, instead hosted a series of games called Deutsche Kampfspiele, starting with the Winter edition of 1922 that predated the first Winter Olympics.

Highlights

• These Olympics were the first in which the Olympic Oath was uttered, the first in which doves were released to symbolize peace, and was the first time the Olympic Flag was flown.
• The USA won 41 Gold, 27 Silver, and 27 Bronze medals, the most won by any of the 29 nations attending. Sweden, Great Britain, Finland and Belgium round out the top 5 medal winning nations.
• The Games also featured a week of winter sports, with figure skating and ice hockey making their Olympic debut.
• Duke Kahanamoku retained the 100m swimming title he won before the war.
• Nedo Nadi won 5 gold medals in the fencing events.
• At the age of 72, Sweden's running deer double-shot event champion Oscar Swahn won in the team event to become the oldest Olympic champion ever.
• 23 year old Paavo Nurmi won the 10,000 and 8,000 meter cross country, took another gold in team cross country, and a silver in 5,000 meter run. His contributions for Finland broke the U.S. dominance record in track and field with 9 medals.

Medals awarded

Archery Athletics Boxing Cycling Diving Equestrian Fencing Figure skating (on ice) Football Gymnastics Hockey Ice hockey

Modern pentathlon Polo Rowing Rugby Sailing Shooting Swimming Tennis Tug of war Water polo Weightlifting Wrestling

Demonstration sport

• Korfball

Participating nations

A total of 29 nations participated in the Antwerp Games, only one more than in 1912, as Germany, Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey were not invited. From the newly created European states, only Estonia took part, and Czechoslovakia, succeeding Bohemia which had sent athletes prior to World War I as part of the Austrian Empire. Yugoslavia, Brazil, Monaco competed as nations at the Olympic Games for the first time. New Zealand, which had competed as part of a combined team with Australia in 1908 and 1912, competed on its own for the first time.

Argentina Australia Belgium Brazil Canada Chile Czechoslovakia Denmark Egypt Estonia

Finland France Great Britain Greece India Italy Japan Luxembourg Monaco Netherlands

New Zealand Norway Portugal South Africa Spain Sweden Switzerland United States Yugoslavia

Medal count

Main article: 1920 Summer Olympics medal count

These are the top ten nations that won medals at the 1920 Games.

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	United States	41	27	27	95
2	Sweden	19	20	25	64
3	Great Britain	15	15	13	43
4	Finland	15	10	9	34
5	Belgium (host nation)	14	11	11	36
6	Norway	13	9	9	31
7	Italy	13	5	5	23
8	France	9	19	13	41
9	Netherlands	4	2	5	11
10	Denmark	3	9	1	13

See also

• International Olympic Committee
• IOC country codes

External links

• IOC Antwerp 1920 Page

Preceded by Berlin	Summer Olympic Games Host City VII Olympiad (1920)	Succeeded by Paris

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