History

  • Sunday August 24

    0030 Athletics - Men's marathon
    0630 Boxing - Six finals
    0730 Basketball - Men's final
    1330 Closing ceremony
    All times BST
Medals Table
G S B Tot
1 CHN 51 21 28 100
2 USA 36 38 36 110
3 RUS 23 21 28 72
4 GBR 19 13 15 47
5 GER 16 10 15 41
6 AUS 14 15 17 46
Olympic History

History Timeline

It all started in Athens in 1896...

Team GB

Competitor List

Take a look at the British athletes heading for Beijing

1912 - Stockholm

  • Jim Thorpe: Set world record.

    Jim Thorpe: Set world record.

The Swedish hosts introduced the use of unofficial electronic timing devices for the track events, as well as the first use of a public address system.

The modern pentathlon was added to the Olympic program while women's events in swimming and diving were also introduced, although Sweden would not allow boxing contests to be held in their country.

Endurance appeared to be the theme as the cycling road race was 199 miles, the longest race of any kind in Olympic history, while a Greco-Roman wrestling semi-final lasted 11 hours.

Finland's Hannes Kohlemainen won three gold medals in long-distance running while he USA's Jim Thorpe won the pentathlon and shattered the world record in the decathlon.

British gold medals: 14

More History Stories

Around the site today

Shanaze Reade: Chance of multiple gold medals

12 stars for 2012

We look at a dozen young athletes who could trigger a fresh gold rush in London in four years' time.

Egan: light-heavyweight silver

Day 16 - As It Happened

Irish boxer Kenny Egan took silver on the final day of action in Beijing.

Early stages of the marathon.

2008 Olympics - Day 16

Pictures from the final day of the Beijing Olympics including an appearance from David Beckham.

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