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A record 5,000 athletes representing 69 nations attend, and women are allowed to compete with men in mixed equestrian events. The United States edges out the USSR 76-71 in the medal count during the first Games of the Cold War era, and the Soviet gymnastics team begins its four-decade medal streak. Israel makes its Olympic debut at the Helsinki Games, as does the Soviet Union as a communist nation. Dutch runner Fanny Blankers-Koen becomes the first woman to win four gold medals in a single Olympics. American Bob Mathias wins in the decathlon at the age of 17, making him the youngest winner of a men's event (a record that endures today). ItвЂ™s also the first time the Games are televised in homes, though it was rare for Brits to own TVs at the time. The 1948 Games mark the first time starting blocks are used in sprint competitions and see the first covered pool. But several nations, including Puerto Rico, Syria, Burma and Lebanon, make their Olympic debuts. Japan and Germany are not invited because of their roles in the war, and the Soviet Union chooses not to attend. Most events are held at a converted Wembley Stadium, as the city, still in post-war recovery, has little time or funding to construct new facilities.

The Olympics return after a 12-year hiatus, with London hosting teams from 59 countries. 1944: London: CanceledДЄwarded to London, the 1944 Games are also cancelled due to World War II. Helsinki, Finland is ready to step in, but with Germany's 1939 invasion of Poland and the onset of World War II, the 1940 Olympic Games are cancelled. Set to take place in Tokyo, a first for a non-Western country, Japan's award to host the Games is forfeited with its invasion of China and the Sino-Japanese War. American Marjorie Gestring becomes the youngest female to win gold at age 13 in the springboard diving competition. Despite the racist Nazi agenda, Black American athlete Jesse Owens is the standout of the Games as he picks up four gold medals in track and field. ItвЂ™s also the first time the Games are broadcast on television.

The first Olympic torch relay takes place, with a lit torch carried from Olympia, Greece to Berlin. Nearly 4,000 athletes from 49 nations compete in 129 events, with basketball, field handball and canoeing making debuts. During the Games, anti-Jewish signs are temporarily removed as the Nazi regime wages a propaganda campaign to show a falsely tolerant Germany. Although several countries, including the United States, threaten to boycott the Games, none officially do so, although many Jewish athletes choose to boycott as individuals. With the Nazi Party in power since 1933, controversy swirls around the 1936 summer Games held in Berlin, with Adolf Hiltler providing the official opening. Jesse Owens, in the lead, competing in track and field at the 1936 games. American Ethelda Bleibtrey wins all three women's swimming events, Italian Nedo Nadi takes gold in five of six fencing competitions and Swede Oscar Swahn snags silver in the team double-shot running deer event at age 72, making him the oldest medalist in Olympic history. With some 2,600 athletes (about 60 of whom are women) from 29 countries competing in 156 events, the five-ring Olympic flag debuts during the Opening Ceremony. The newly-formed Soviet Union does not attend.

April 20-September 12, 1920: AntwerpДЇollowing devastation from World War I, Antwerp, Belgium is awarded the Games, and Germany, Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey are not invited. With World War I raging, the 1916 Olympics, slated to take place in Berlin, are canceled. The 1912 Games are noted as the first time electronic timing is used, a public address system, the only time boxing doesn't take place (Swedish law banned it) and the first time an athlete dies during the Games (Francisco Lazzaro, of Portugal, during the marathon). But controversy surrounds Thorpe: HeвЂ™s disqualified for playing for a resort baseball team a few years before the Games, a violation of IOC rules (the medals were restored in 1982, nearly three decades after his death).

#LONDON OLYMPIC VIDEO GAME PRO#

And American Jim Thorpe, a future pro football and baseball star, becomes a household name after winning gold in the pentathlon and decathlon and taking fourth in the high jump and seventh in the long jump. Finnish long-distance star Hannes Kolehmainen, one of the 'Flying Finns,' wins three golds in the 5,000-, 10,000- and 12,000-meter runs. The first Asian country to participate, Japan joins the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm, Sweden, which includes athletes from 28 nations representing all five continents and features the debut of women's swimming and diving and the modern pentathlon.

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