CENTURY TIMELINE: 1900-1924
1900: The Olympic Games in Paris are held in conjunction with the Universal Exhibition. Hence, the fencing competition is staged in the midst of the cutlery show. Margaret Abbot becomes the first woman to win gold.
1908: Jack Johnson (right) finally gets to challenge for the world heavyweight crown, against Tommy Burns in Sydney. Vastly superior to his opponent and thriving on the teeming racial abuse, he duly becomes the first black champion of the world.
1912: Finland's Johan Kolehmainen wins the first Olympic 5,000 metres race, overcoming France's Jean Bouin on the final bend. Bouin and bronze medallist George Huston were later killed in action in September, 1914. Jim Thorpe, the American Indian athlete who takes gold in the pentathlon and decathlon, has his medals stripped for having played semi-pro baseball. The fight to have his records restored continues today.
1913: Francis Ouimet, a caddie and delivery boy, is given a last-minute offer to compete in the US Open near his home in Brookline. With a 10-year-old caddie, Eddie Lowery, Ouimet goes on to beat his heroes, Harry Vardon and Ted Ray. He is the first amateur to win the Open.
1919: "Say it ain't so, Joe?" Shoeless Joe Jackson, the adored left fielder with the Chicago White Sox, takes the rap for the first great American sports betting scandal. Organised by Arnold Gandil, seven other White Sox starters agree to throw the World Series against Cincinnati. Jackson is essentially guilty by association yet is banned for life. Yet Jackson led both teams with 12 hits and a home run in the series. He died in 1951, claiming innocence to the end.
1922: 126,047 (officially, other sources estimate up to 200,000) turn up for the first FA Cup final at Wembley. Such is the overflow that at one stage, the pitch is almost totally covered with people, until Constable Scorey gently drives the crowd back by guiding his white horse in ever increasing circles. Bolton beat West Ham 2-0.
1924: Finland's Paavo Nurmi wins gold in the 1,500 metres and 5,000 metres at the Olympics within an hour-and-a-half.
