Sir Benjamin Stone and the Olympic Games

The Exedra of Hercules Atticus, Olympia, said to be the spot where the victors in the Games were crowned with olive branches from the sacred grove of Atticus, Greece, 1903.

The Olympic Games were a series of athletic competitions held for representatives of various city-states of Ancient Greece held in honour of the god Zeus. The exact origins of the Games are shrouded in myth and legend but records indicate that they began in 776 BC in Olympia in Greece. The Games were usually held every four years, or olympiad, as the unit of time came to be known

Members of the Irish-American Athletic Club, Prize Winners in the Olympic Games, Houses of Parliament, 1908.

In the 1908 Olympic Games, in London, England, members of the Irish American Athletic Club won 10 of the U.S. Olympic teams total 23 gold medals, or as many as the nations of France, Germany, and Italy combined. Their support of Irish Nationalism caused some tension during the Games.

This group included Robert Cloughen, athlete; John J. Dolan, Tour manager of the Irish American Athletic Club; Raymond Clarence ('Ray') Ewry, track and field athlete; Charles Hall, athlete; A.P. Henry, athlete; G. King, Middle-weight wrestler; Thomas ('Tom') Morrissey, athlete; Michael J. Ryan athlete; Melvin Whinfield ('Mel') Sheppard, athlete; James Patrick ('Jim') Sullivan, athlete; John Baxter Taylor Jr., track and field athlete and the first Black American to win a medal at the Olympic Games, and finally Louis Tewanima, athlete.

Sir Benjamin Stone and the Olympic Games

The Benjamin Stone Collection

Magnum Sport Exhibition 16 July to 9 September