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Nedo Nadi: Fencing legend.
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Antwerp displays the Olympic flag for the first time
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Suzanne Lenglen
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Albert Hill
In this year...
- The start of a 13-year period of prohibition comes into force in the United States.
- Aston Villa beat Huddersfield Town 1-0 in the first FA Cup Final since 1915.
- The National Football League (NFL) is founded as the American Professional Football Association at Canton, Ohio.
- Meccano Ltd of Liverpool produce the first Hornby toy train.
- It is announced that compulsory hand signals are to be introduced for all drivers.
The 1916 Olympics were scheduled to be held in Berlin but were cancelled because of World War One and the 1920 Games were awarded to Antwerp to honour the suffering that had been inflicted on the Belgian people during the conflict.
The opening ceremony was notable for the introduction of the Olympic flag, the presentation of the Athletes' Oat and the releasing of doves as a symbol of peace.
The Games also featured a week of winter sports in Belgium, with ice hockey and figure skating making Olympic debuts.
Italy's Nedo Nadi earned gold medals in five of the six fencing events, while America's Ethelda Bleibtrey won gold in all three women's swimming contests. She swam in five races, which included heats, and broke the world record in every one.
France's Suzanne Lenglen lost only four games in the 10 sets she played on the way to tennis success.
72-year-old Swede Oscar Swahn earned a silver medal in the team double-shot running deer event to become the oldest medallist ever.
The great Paavo Nurmi made his Olympic debut as a 23-year-old, winning three golds and a silver as he started his path towards Olympic stardom.
The 12-foot dinghy sailing event was the only event in Olympic history to be held in two countries; the first race was staged in Belgium but the last two took place in the Netherlands because both entrants were Dutch.
Olympic Stars:
In a performance unequalled in Olympic history, Nedo Nadi of Italy was as close to unbeatable as they come as he earned gold medals in five of the six fencing events.
Nadi took gold in Stockholm four years earlier, but took his game to a new level in Antwerp as he grabbed the most gold medals in a single Games until a certain Mark Spitz came along.
Suzanne Lenglen is a legend in tennis and in 1920 she added the Olympic singles title to titles she claimed at Wimbledon and the then-French Championships in a period of utter dominance.
In Antwerp, she won medals in all her events as she claimed gold in the women's singles, gold in the mixed doubles alongside Max Décugis and also bronze in the women's doubles.
Albert Hill won the 800m/1500m double for Great Britain in Antwerp and also picked up silver in the 3000m team event in a brilliant display if middle distance running.
He was almost left out of selection for the Olympics due to him being 31, but he responded by claiming the middle distance double not replicated by a Briton until Kelly Holmes in Athens 2004.
