The 1912 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the V Olympiad () and commonly known as Stockholm 1912, were an international multi-sport event held in Stockholm, Sweden, between 6 July and 22 July 1912. The opening ceremony was held on 6 July. They were the only Summer Olympics to be held in the 1910s as the 1916 Summer Olympics in Berlin were cancelled due to World War I.
Twenty-eight nations and 2,408 competitors, including 48 women, competed in 102 events in 14 sports. With the exception of tennis (starting on 5 May) and football and shooting (both starting on 29 June), the games were held within a month with an official opening on 6 July. It was the last Olympics to issue solid gold medals and, with Japan's debut, the first time an official team from an Asian nation participated. Stockholm was the only bid for the games, and was selected in 1909.
The games were the first to have art competitions, women's diving, women's swimming, and the first to feature both the decathlon and the new pentathlon, both won by the American Jim Thorpe. Electric timing was introduced in athletics, while the host country disallowed boxing. Figure skating was rejected by the organizers because they wanted to promote the Nordic Games.
The United States won the most gold medals (26), while hosts Sweden won the most medals overall (65). These were the final Olympic Games for eight years due to the disruption of the First World War. The next Olympic Games were held in 1920 in Antwerp.
Host selection
Following the 1908 Summer Olympics in London, authorities in Sweden immediately sought to ensure that the next games would be held there. There were two Swedish members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) at the time, Viktor Balck and Clarence von Rosen. The pair proposed the idea to the Swedish governing bodies of athletics and gymnastics in order to ensure that they backed any potential bid. Support was given by the national associations on 18 April 1909 for a bid to host the Olympics in Stockholm on the basis that suitable financial arrangements could be made. King Gustaf V was petitioned on 6 May 1909 following the publication of preliminary plans for the Stockholm bid that the expected cost of hosting the Games would be 415,000 kronor (£23,050 or $115,250). The Government accepted the petition on behalf of the King and supported the bid. The Games were duly awarded to Sweden to host in Stockholm as the only nominated host city for the 1912 Summer Olympics. The committee was elected in the autumn of 1909, with Balck voted as the President of the committee, and Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf selected as Honorary President. The committee's first meeting took place on 7 October, and on 11 October they delegated the arrangements for the individual branches of sports to the relevant governing bodies in Sweden. There were four exceptions to this, with the game shooting, modern pentathlon and mountain ascents retained by the Olympic committee, and the horse riding competitions being organized by Prince Carl, Duke of Västergötland, who was the inspector of the Swedish cavalry. Altogether there were 187 members of these committees.
The official invitation to compete in the Games was issued on 18 November 1910 to 27 countries, either directly or through their representative on the IOC. A further 15 countries were to have been invited, but as they had no IOC representatives, the Swedish authorities were unsure how to proceed. Once the organizing committee for the Games received confirmation of the athletic associations in each of the 15 countries, they too were sent invitations. Some 61,800 entry forms were printed for the use of the various nations.
Free transport was arranged for the invited nations' equipment, and a discount of 50 percent was arranged for competitors and delegates on the state run railway. Further arrangements were made for the general arrival of visitors in order to entertain them whilst they were not at the Games; a pleasure garden was opened north of the Olympic Stadium, and a series of indoor tennis courts were converted into a restaurant.
The cycling road race was held around Mälaren, the third largest lake in Sweden. The water events, including the swimming and the rowing, were held at Djurgårdsbrunnsviken, where a stadium was built. Kaknäs was already used as a shooting range, but alterations were needed to accommodate shooting events. Although it was not used as the Olympic stadium as originally intended, Östermalm hosted the lawn tennis and fencing competitions after a tennis pavilion was moved there from another location.
Five other locations were considered in addition to the Östermalm Athletic Grounds to locate the Olympic Stadium. The Stockholm Olympic Stadium was built on the site of the former Stockholm Athletic Grounds in order to retain the other locations for other uses during the Games. By placing it to the north of the city, the Olympic Stadium was within the immediate vicinity of other pre-existing sporting venues. Initial funding was given to the sum of 400,000 Kr for a timber stadium but Torben Grut, the architect, also drew up alternative plans for a stone stadium. Following discussions with the Swedish Central Association for the Application of Athletics, it was decided that the stone version should be built, and further funds were made available through a national lottery once guarantees were made that no further funding was to be asked for in order to build the stadium. However it was found that the original estimate for the stone stadium would still be too expensive, and the plans were once more modified in order to simplify the design and reduce costs. An agreement was entered into with a contractor on 2 November 1910 that it would be transferred complete by 25 May 1912.
{| class="wikitable sortable" width=780px
!width=40%|Venue
!class="unsortable" width=45%|Sports
!width=10%|Capacity
!class="unsortable"| Ref.
|-
|| Barkarby || Modern pentathlon (riding) ||align="right"|Not listed.
| align=center|
|-
|| Djurgårdsbrunnsviken || Diving, Modern pentathlon (swimming), Rowing, Swimming, Water polo || align="right"|Not listed.
| align=center|
|-
|| Fältrittklubben || Equestrian (eventing endurance) || align="right"|Not listed.
| align=center|
|-
|| Kaknäs || Modern pentathlon (shooting) || align="right"|Not listed.
| align=center|
|-
|| Liljeholmen || Cycling, Equestrian || align="right"|Not listed.
| align=center|
|-
|| Lindarängen || Equestrian (eventing steeplechase) || align="right"|Not listed.
| align=center|
|-
|| Mälaren || Cycling || align="right"|Not listed.
| align=center|
|-
|| Nynäshamn || Sailing || align="right"|Not listed.
| align=center|
|-
|| Östermalm Athletic Grounds || Equestrian, Fencing, Modern pentathlon (fencing), Tennis || align="right"|Not listed.
| align=center|
|-
|| Råsunda IP || Football, Shooting || align="right"|Not listed.
| align=center|
|-
|| Stockholm Olympic Stadium || Athletics, Equestrian, Football (final), Gymnastics, Modern pentathlon (running), Tug of war, Wrestling || align="right"|33,000
| align=center|
|-
|| Tranebergs Idrottsplats || Football || align="right"|Not listed.
| align=center| Three thousand competing athletes had already assembled in the nearby Östermalm Athletic Grounds, and began to enter the stadium in alphabetical order by nation according to the Swedish spelling. The Swedish team entered last, the Greek team did not enter first.
A hymn was sung, a traditional Swedish chant was conducted and prayers were read first in Swedish and then in English. King Gustav V then declared the Games officially open by a long speech: