Action from the Gymnastics competition

Thorpe's medals were therefore taken back by the IOC as a breach of the amateur rules of the Olympics, leaving Thorpe as the first athlete ever to be disqualified from the Olympics for being a professionals.

However, the IOC officially pardoned Thorpe in 1982, 29 years after his death, a fitting tribute to the man voted the greatest athlete of first half of the century.

Finland's Hannes Kolehmainen was the other success story of the Games, taking three gold medals in the 5000, 10,000 and 12,000m cross country, beginning a Finnish dominance of the long distance events over the next 30 years.

Elsewhere, the Stockholm Games were noted for being the first to use electrical timing equipment for the first time. Women also made their debut in the swimming events, with the British 4x100 relay team winning gold.