1908 Summer Olympics Kati Jõgi Saaremaa Co-Educational Gymnasium Form 10A

1908 Summer Olympics  The host city for 1908 Summer Olympics was London  The opening ceremony took place April 27 and closing ceremony October 31  It was officially opened by King Edward VII  1971 men and 37 women participated  22 nations participated  There were 110 events in 22 sports  Stadium was White City Stadium

Medal count  The most medals were won by the host nation Great Britain – 146  56 of them were gold, 51 silver and 39 bronze  The next country was the United States who had 47 medals  23 of them were gold, 12 silver and 12 bronze medals

Henry Taylor  Henry Taylor was one of the 56 men who won a gold medal for Great Britain  The medals were won for 1500m freestyle men swimming, 400m freesyle men swimming and 4*200m freestyle relay men swimming

Taylor's early life  Was born in the Hollinwood area of Oldham, in Lancashire, on 17 March  Learned to swin in the Hollinwood Canal, and practised in Alexandra Parks's boating lake  Swam his first race at the age of 7  His older brother Bill became his coach

Taylor's career  Won a gold medal in the one mile freestyle, silver in the 400m freestyle and a broze in 4*250m freestyle in the 1906 Intercalated Games in Athens  In the 1908 Olympics Taylor won medals in each of the three events in which he took part: the 400 m freestyle, the 4×200 m freestyle, and the 1500 m freestyle  The British press hailed Taylor as “Britain's Greatest Amateur Swimmer”  Four years later he was selected to go to Stockholm for the 1912 Summer Olympics

Henry Taylor during the First World War  Taylor served in the Royal Navy during the First World War and kept fit by swimming around the ships when his ship was anchored at Scapa Flow  Was present at the Battle of Jutland

Taylor after the war  Took part in the Morecambe Race, winning eight times over a period of 20 year and at one point held the record  Attempted to emulate Matthew Webb in swimming across the English Channel but failed due to bad weather  He annually took on the French Champion, swimming in both River Thames and the River Seine and winning on every occasion  Taylor's last appearance in the Olympic Games was at Antwerp, Belgium, in 1920

Taylor after swimming  Continued swimming competitively into his 40s until he retired in 1926  During his career he won over 35 trophies and 300 medals  He died in obscurity aged 65 on 28 February 1951, in Chadderton Lancashire  He was cremated and his remains were scattered at Rochdale Cemetery

The reminiscence of Henry Taylor

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