Photos: Rare Photos Of The '12 Olympic Games (They're Not What You Think)
By J.J. McGrath | Aug 12, 2012 12:58 PM EDT
Separated by a century in time and about 890 miles in distance, the London 2012 Olympic Games and the Stockholm 1912 Olympic Games are nonetheless contemporaneous in the mind, where they have striking similarities.
First, they share the obligatory pageantry common to almost all Olympic Games since the dawn of the modern era 116 years ago in Athens, Greece.
Second, they both had as spectators members of the European host country's royal family, headed by the U.K.'s Queen Elizabeth II this year and Sweden's King Gustav V 100 years ago.
And, third, they each featured the participation of one who is arguably the greatest Olympic athlete of the modern games: swimming sensation Michael Phelps in 2012, and track-and-field titan Jim Thorpe in 1912.
Appearing below are photographs of the first '12 Olympic Games. These photos are in the George Grantham Bain Collection of the U.S. Library of Congress. The collection represents the photographic files of one of America's earliest news-picture agencies.
The U.S. Olympic Team booked passage aboard the Red Star Line's Finland on its way to the Stockholm 1912 Olympic Games.
Source: Library of Congress / Flickr Commons Project, 2008 Date:08/12/2012
U.S. Olympic Team members pose for a family photograph aboard the Red Star Line's Finland, which transported them to the Stockholm 1912 Olympic Games.
Source: Library of Congress / Flickr Commons Project, 2008 and 2010 Date:08/12/2012
Carrying not only the U.S. Olympic Team but also its members' athletic hopes and dreams, the Red Star Line's Finland gets under way as it voyages to the Stockholm 1912 Olympic Games.
Source: Library of Congress / Flickr Commons Project, 2008 and 2010 Date:08/12/2012
U.S. Olympian brothers Platt Adams, left, and Ben Adams, right, pose for a photo with fellow Olympian Jim Duncan as the American track-and-field athletes travel to the Stockholm 1912 Olympic Games.
Source: Library of Congress / Flickr Commons Project, 2010 Date:08/12/2012
Athletes assemble on the opening day of the Stockholm 1912 Olympic Games, the fifth of the modern era.
Source: Library of Congress / Flickr Commons Project, 2008 Date:08/12/2012
Royals shown seated in the left row at the Stockholm 1912 Olympic Games are, from left to right, Prince Wilhelm of Sweden and Norway, Duke of Sd̐ermanland; Crown Prince Gustav VI Adolf of Sweden; and their father King Gustav V.
Source: Library of Congress / Flickr Commons Project, 2008 Date:08/12/2012
Swedish Crown Prince Gustav VI Adolf chats with English soccer players at the Stockholm 1912 Olympic Games.
Source: Library of Congress / Flickr Commons Project, 2008 Date:08/12/2012
Robert Means Thompson, president of the American Olympic Association, accepts a U.S. flag on behalf of the U.S. Olympic Team that competed at the Stockholm 1912 Olympic Games.
Source: Library of Congress / Flickr Commons Project, 2008 and 2011 Date:08/12/2012
Featured is an overview of the 100-meter swim at the Stockholm 1912 Olympic Games.
Source: Library of Congress / Flickr Commons Project, 2008 Date:08/12/2012
Runners compete in the 110-meter race at the Stockholm 1912 Olympic Games.
Source: Library of Congress / Flickr Commons Project, 2008 Date:08/12/2012
Competitors aim for a gold medal in the army rifle shooting contest at the Stockholm 1912 Olympic Games.
Source: Library of Congress / Flickr Commons Project, 2008 Date:08/12/2012
Members of the U.S. Olympic Team were guests of honor at a parade on Fifth Avenue in New York after their return from the Stockholm 1912 Olympic Games. (Note the U.S. presidential-election campaign banner in the background.)
Source: Library of Congress / Bain Collection Date:08/12/2012
