Introduced by Baron Pierre de Coubertin (who refereed the first ever French championship final), rugby was on the Olympic program at Paris in 1900, at London in 1908, Antwerp in 1920, and Paris again in 1924. In 1928 the I.O.C. turned down the request to stage rugby at the Amsterdam games. Three factors were believed to be behind this: the IOC wanted more emphasis on individual sports; women's athletics had swollen the number of competitors; and the sport did not receive the backing that it should have from the British entries. http://www.olympic.org/uk/passion/museum/permanent/coubertin/index_uk.asp THE RESULTS 1900 Paris Three teams entered - France, Germany and Britain. France won the gold, winning 27-17 against Germany, who were awarded the silver medal. Britain lost 27-8 to France in the only other match, and were awarded the bronze. 1908 London Two teams entered - Britain, the hosts, and Australia. Just one match was played, a straight final, won by Australia, 32-3. 1912 Stockholm Not held. 1920 Antwerp Two teams entered - USA and France. The USA caused a shock by winning the only match 8-0 to take the gold medal. 1924 Paris Three teams entered - France, USA and Romania. Each country played two games. Both France and USA beat Romania, who were awarded the bronze medal. France won 59-3, scoring 13 tries including four by the fine Stade Francais winger Adolphe Jaureguy. The USA then defeated Romania 39-0. The final was played at Colombes stadium, Paris on 18 May 1924 and the USA took the gold with a 17-3 victory before 30,000. The Americans, from Stanford University, scored five tries, (Farrish(2), Patrick, Rogers and Manelli), with a conversion by Doe. Gallau scored the lone French try. The match finished in uproar, when Gideon Nelson, one of the reserves, was flattened by a walking stick. The American anthem was jeered, and rugby ceased at the Olympics. Dual gold medallists Daniel Carroll was a member of the Australian gold medal team in 1908, and won another gold for the USA in 1920. Morris Kirksey, gold medalist in the sprint relay and silver medallist in the 100 metres on the track in 1920, was a member of the gold medal rugby team in 1920. Kirksey failed by 18 inches (46cm) to beat Charlie Paddock for the sprint gold. ----------------------------------- Now you can all sleep soundly tonight, content at last with the true story! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Note that some at least of these teams were hardly national selections. For example, the 1900 French team was apparently just "Paris", the Germans were "Eintracht Frankfurt" and the British the "Moseley Wanderers". In 1908 the British side was actually "Cornwall". The victorious USA team is understood to have been the Stanford football team! Anyway, here is a summary of the games played and medals won by teams from the various countries. won lost for against gold silver bronze USA 3 0 64 3 2 - - France 3 2 116 53 1 2 - Australia 1 0 32 3 1 - - Germany 0 1 17 27 - 1 - Britain 0 2 11 59 - 1 1 Romania 0 2 3 98 - - 1 Bill Taylor, Math department, Canterbury University, Christchurh, New Zealand. http://www.uiweb.uidaho.edu/clubs/womens_rugby/RugbyRoot/rugby/FAQ/Trivia/olympics.html
Pierre de Coubertin seems to have a seminal role in French rugby and also a deliberate hand in the first Anglo French club match between Stade Francais and Rosslyn Park in 1892. He also had a penchant for elaborate symbolism and it is impossible not to see the foreshadowings of the Olympics in the trrophy commissioned for the 1892 game. Full story at http://www.rugbyremembers.co.uk/4.html
