The 1904 Olympic Games were held in St. Louis. Originally they were awarded to Chicago but there was a dispute between Chicago and St.Louis because St.Louis was hosting the Louisiana Purchase Exhibition and they wanted to games to coincide with their exhibition. President Theodore Roosevelt sided with St. Louis and they got it.

Turned out awarding the games to St.Louis was a huge mistake. As incompetent as the 1900 Paris games had been run, the St. Louis games was even more of a fiasco.

Most of the European counties didn’t bother to attend, even the Olympics man man-Baron de Coubertin didn’t even bother to show up.

The St. Louis 1904 games ran from July 1st to November 23rd.. 681 male athletes competed and 6 women competed. 12 nations showed up the lowest total ever. 91 events were held in 17 sports. In some of the events all the competitors were Americans.

Most of the events were held at Francis Field on the campus of Washington University in St.Louis. That field is still used to this day.

Two athletes of interest in these games- George Eyser a gymnast won six medals which is impressive.  Even more impressive when you consider he had a wooden leg.

Frank Kugler won 4 medals in three different sports-the only time this has ever happened in a single Olympic Games. He won his medals in freestyle wrestling, weightlifting and the tug of war.

For the second straight Olympics the games were a disaster.

below picture of the Marathon race.  The Marathon race was brutal. The organizers must not have known much about the race. It was run on dusty roads that included seven hills.  The roads were made even dustier by automobiles. To top it off it was held on a 90 degree day. The only water available for the runner was at 12 miles from the finish. Only 14 of the 32 runners finished. The winner of the race was American Thomas Hicks. Hicks said he would rather have won this race than be president of the United States. He retired after winning.

below the finish of the 6o meter dash.