1928 Olympics

The 1928 Summer Olympics, formally known as the IX Olympics, was an international multi-sport event that was held from 28 July to 12 August 1928 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. The city of Amsterdam had originally qualified for the 1920 and 1924 Olympic Games, but was convinced by Pierre de Coubertin to give way to war-torn Antwerp in Belgium for the 1920 Games, and to Paris for the 1924 Games. The USA won both gold and silver medals. The only other candidate city for the 1928 Games was Los Angeles which was eventually selected to host the Games four years later. A.S. Summer Olympics in preparation for 1932 The budget and revenues of the 1928 Games were reviewed by the Olympic Committee The commission declared a net deficit of $1,183 million with revenue of $1,165 million, resulting in a total shortfall of $18,000 which was a substantial improvement from the 1924 Olympics. The Dutch nobleman Frederik van Tuyll van Serooskerken first proposed Amsterdam as the host city for the Summer Olympic Games of 1912, long before the Dutch Olympic Committee was formed. The Summer Games were ended in 1916, because of World War I. In 1919, the Netherlands Olympic Committee vetoed the Amsterdam proposal in favour of their vote for the election of Antwerp as host city for the 1920 Summer Olympics. Paris was chosen in 1921 for the 1924 Summer Olympics, on condition that the 1928 Summer Olympics be held in Amsterdam. On 2 June 1921, the International Olympic Committee approved the decision, with the consent of the Dutch Olympic Committee. They were the first games to have been played during the IOC presidency of Henri de Baillet-Latour. The Olympic Flame was first illuminated for the remainder of the Games, a tradition that remains to this day. Torch relay will, however, not be held until the 1936 Summer Olympics. For the first time, the nation parade started with Greece, which carries the origin of the Olympics, and concluded with the host nations, a tradition that has been going on since then. Prince Hendrik, consort of Queen Wilhelmina, officially opened the Games, appointing her husband as their Deputy. The Queen was unable to attend the opening ceremonies, because she was on holiday in Norway and did not want to disrupt her trip. That was the second time an opening ceremony at the Olympics was not directly officiated by a head of state. Initially, the Queen refused to participate in either the opening or closing ceremony; it is believed that she objected to the Dutch hosting of the 1928 Games because she considered the Olympics a display of paganism. Nonetheless, she returned from Norway to attend the closing ceremonies before the conclusion of the Game and declared the first prizes at the trophy distribution that was completed shortly beforehand. At the 1928 Summer Olympics the competition contained the 14 teams, 20 disciplines and 109 events. The Summer Games of 1928 used 14 stadiums for athletics. The Swim Pool was destroyed as temporary location in 1929. The football stadium Het Kasteel was rebuilt in 1998–99. In 1950 Monnikenhuize Stadion was demolished. The Schermzaal Sports Hall was destroyed, too. The Olympic Stadium was renovated between 1996 and 2000, and is still in use. The New Stadium was destroyed in 1929, and it replaced Amsterdam City Homes. In total, 46 nations were represented at the Amsterdam Games. Everyone competed in the Olympic Games at Malta, Panama and Rhodesia. Deutschland returned, although banned, in 1920 and 1924. The promotional poster for the Game was made by Jos Rovers plus 10,000 copies. The poster shows a running man in white uniform, in the backdrop is the Olympic Stadium and the Olympic flag.