Water Polo at the Olympic Games: London 1908

 In the beginning there was the chaos. Better to say, there was an eruption. For the 1908 edition, and after the so-called Intercalated Games in Athens in 1906, the Olympics were back in Europe and Rome would be the hosting city to the detriment of Berlin, which was initially chosen. Nevertheless, something unexpected forced the organisers to review their ideas. 

by Simone Pierotti

An eruption of the Vesuvius, the volcano located in Naples, took place and was so devastating that it was named the “new Pompei”. Having to face several damages as well as deaths, the Italian Government was forced to invest on the reconstruction the money allocated for the Games.

Therefore, a couple of years ahead of the great event, the Olympics had to be relocated. As Berlin did not make another bid, the British Olympic Association offered the possibility to stage the Games in London and the proposal was accepted. Most of the competitions were held at the White City Stadium, now demolished, which would be the venue of one match at the 1966 football World Cup.

 

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Simone Pierotti è nato il 2 gennaio 1985 a Pietrasanta, ma è cresciuto a Viareggio, dove ha mosso i primi passi da giornalista e le prime bracciate da pallanotista. Ha giocato un po' in tutti i ruoli per oltre 10 anni e nel frattempo si è laureato in Comunicazione pubblica all'Università di Pisa, ha fatto da addetto stampa al Torneo di Viareggio e alla Coppa Carnevale di nuoto e collaborato per varie testate. Adesso sta frequentando un master in giornalismo sportivo alla Sheffield Hallam University, nel Regno Unito, e continua a seguire la pallanuoto. Simone Pierotti was born on 2 January 1985 in Pietrasanta, but he grew up in Viareggio, where he fell in love both with journalism and water polo. He played in almost all roles for more than 10 years and in the meantime he graduated in Communication Studies from Università di Pisa, he served as a press officer for the Viareggio Tournament and the Coppa Carnevale of swimming and he has worked as a freelance journalist for several news organisations. He is now attending a MA in Sports Journalism at Sheffield Hallam University and he is going on with covering water polo.