The 1904 Summer Olympics … was celebrated in St. Louis, Missouri … from August 29 until September 3, 1904, as part of an extended sports program lasting from July 1 to November 23, 1904 …
It was the first time that the Olympic Games were held outside Europe.
European tensions caused by the Russo-Japanese War and the difficulty of getting to St. Louis kept most of the world’s top athletes away. Only 62 of the 651 athletes who competed came from outside North America, and only 12–15 nations were represented …
The St. Louis organizers treated the Games in a manner similar to the previous Olympiad, with competitions reduced to a side-show of the St. Louis World’s Fair …
The participants totalled 651 athletes – 645 men and six women representing 12 countries. …
One of the most remarkable athletes was the American gymnast George Eyser, who won six medals even though his left leg was made of wood ….
Eyser competed with a wooden prosthesis for a left leg, having lost his real leg after being run over by a train. Despite his disability, he won gold in the vault, an event which then included a jump over a long horse without aid of a springboard. …
Apparatus: Clubs, Horizontal Bar, Parallel Bars, Pommel Horse, Rings, Rope Climb, and Vault.
The AA Champ was Julius Lenhart.
