Amsterdam was due to hold the 1924 event, but the considerable influence of Olympic president Baron de Coubertin found the Games back in Paris.

He hoped this Olympiad would improve on the poor organisation of the 1900 Games in the French capital.

Germany were still exempt from the Games, but four other nations banned in 1920 were re-instated.

The 1924 Games saw American William DeHart Hubbard became the first black athlete to win an individual gold.

He triumphed in the long jump and his compatriot Robert LeGendre broke the long jump world record with a leap of 7.76m, but this was in the penthalon, and he had to settle for bronze.

The Finns again dominated the middle distance events, with Paavo Nurmi taking five gold medals, two of which he won within an hour of each other.

Nurmi was honoured for his achievements when a statue of him was erected outside Helsinki stadium.

Tennis made its last appearance before being brought back more than 60 years later at Seoul.

The IOC, which was fiercely anti-professional, had doubts whether the game's top players were truly amateurs.

Great Britain scored two major victories when Harold Abrahams became the first European to win an Olympic sprint medal, while Eric Liddell took the gold in the 400m in a time of 47.6 seconds.

Lidell's time was a world record, but was not officially recognised because the runners only had to run around one bend until 1936.

In the pool, Johnny Weissmuller, later to become Tarzan, won three golds in freestyle events and a bronze in the men's water polo.