Is it true that the Russian team was late for the 1908 Olympics for 12 days due to the difference in calendars?

Often you can read that the difference between the Julian and Gregorian calendars led to the courier delay of the whole Russian delegation to the Olympic London. We checked whether it was in reality.

Here's what the site tells us about this history Lenta.ru: “In 1908, the Russian Empire for the second time sent a delegation to the Olympic Games. Eight years before, the Russian team had already participated in the Olympics, but did not win medals. This time, General Alexei Butovsky, who was in the International Olympic Committee (IOC) since its founding, broke the question. The team from shooters, athletes, wrestlers and skaters went to London, because the divisions into winter and summer games did not exist then. Arriving in the UK, our athletes learned that the games began two weeks ago.

The Russian team prudently went to the Olympics in advance, but did not take into account that Great Britain has been transferred to the Gregorian calendar for 200 years (like most European countries), and the Russian Empire continued to live in Julian. The difference in dating between countries was about two weeks. When the Russian delegation began to register, it turned out that the games were already in full swing, and the competitions in some disciplines were completely completed. ”

Similar information can be gleaned in publications "RIA Novosti" Sports.ru, Zo and a number of other resources.

IV summer Olympic Games Modernity was held in London in 1908 and adopted 2008 athletes. It is noteworthy that among them there were 53 times more women (1971 versus 37), which, however, was not surprising in those days. Initially, Rome was supposed to accept the games, but I was not ready.

Indeed, the Russian Empire was not the first to participate in the Olympics. In 1896 to Athens We went Several people, but they did not have enough money from their pocket to achieve the goal. And the only Russian, nobleman Nikolai Ritter, shortly before the start of the main competitions, lost his Medalon-Medalism and decided to star. Four years later in Paris The country was represented by two horsemen and three fencers, but they failed to win medals. Finally, in 1904, funds for a trip to a distant American Saint-Louis In Russia was not found.

And then 1908 came. In the absence of the National Olympic Committee, the delegation was formed by the Russian member of the IOC - not Alexey Butovsky (which left the organization back in 1900), but his successor in this authoritative organization Count George RibopierrePersonally sponsoring a trip of some athletes to games. If you believe modern reference books, participation in the Olympics Accepted Six Russian athletes: four Greco-Roman style fighters, one athlete-marathon and one skater-Nikolai Panin-Kolomenkin, who brought Russia the first and for many decades the only gold of the Olympic Games. And for the first time a separate team at the Games was the team Finland - Then, even parts of the Russian Empire, which did not prevent her from putting an impressive delegation of 67 people in London and win five medals.

And what about the dates? Indeed, Great Britain I crossed On the Gregorian calendar in 1752, and Russia used Julian until 1918. By the beginning of the 20th century, the difference between the two systems reached 13 days, so it was possible to make a mistake theoretically. But, on the other hand, it seems incredible that it is not noticed by any of the significant number of people who had a direct or indirect attitude to the sending of the Russian delegation.

Dates The holding of the London Olympiad by modern standards look like nonsense: from April 27 to October 31, 1908, that is, more than six months. It is directly about the competition, and formally games Opened Only July 13, the King of Great Britain Edward VII. In the publication on "Picabu»It is said that the Russian team was late for the opening ceremony, and also completely missed the shooting competition (they were already over by the time of arrival of the delegation). At the same time in The official report According to the results of the Olympiad, it is indicated that the power was represented by eight, not six people:

Two Russian athletes appearing in General reportBut absent in the results of the competition, are, as it turns out, not arrows, but a bike lover Martinson and the thrower of the Petrovsky disk, who seemed to drop out even before joining the struggle. In their disciplines, competitive days were July 14, 15 and 16. As for the opening ceremony, the Russian flag was indeed not noticed on it - the Finnish delegation also preferred to march without it.

Shooting competitions were held from July 9 to 11. The report indicates the date of arrival of each delegation for these competitions, but Russia is not there not only among the arrivals, but also among the absent national teams, which are devoted to separate lines:

From this we can conclude that the nameless Russian arrows at least withdrew from the competition in advance, and not late on them. And what about other athletes? Four wrestlers (two of them will take silver) competed from July 21 to 25. Marathon, George Lind, held his only race on July 24. Finally, the figure skating tournament was held much later, at the very end of the Olympics (October 28–29), that is, there was nowhere to hurry to Nikolai Panin-Kolomenkin.

Thus, the Russian delegation, as such, could not be late for the Olympics for 12 days for two reasons: 1) the Olympics started back in April, and the Russians entered the fight in July; 2) between the day of the solemn opening of the Olympics and the first competitive day of the Russians, only eight days passed. At the same time, all those Russian athletes that fell into the protocols managed to fully take part in the games.

It turns out that only a team of Russian shooters, for some reason not marked in the report, can be a weak link here. Here's what the American magazine writes about this Sports Illustrated: “On July 11, 1908, the United States went around Great Britain in the struggle for gold. The Russians did not appear in the standings and were uncompetitive. Not because they were not good, but rather because they were not there. Although they arrived in the city a few days before July 11, they did this not according to the calendar. Unlike other teams, Russian arrows arrived in the Julian calendar, that is, 12 days after Gregorian. The event has long ended. ” Similar information, but with the mention of July 10 (23) gives another modern English -speaking editiondedicated to that Olympics.

We close our eyes to the mention of 12 days instead of 13. So that this quote does not contradict itself, it is necessary to accept that the second “profit” is already referring to the appearance of shooters in the shooting range themselves in the county of Surry, and not in London. It turns out that Russian teams in individual sports reached the games on their own. This thought is indirectly confirmed by Nikolai Panin-Kolomenkin in his memoirs. Thus, the only thing that can be allowed from the case we consider is later the arrival of the Russian shooters at the place of competition. In relation to other athletes, such a statement is definitely wrong.

Half truth

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