Lacrosse is a contact team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensively modified by European colonists, reducing the violence, to create its current collegiate and professional form.
The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, Greece, and the most recent Games are being held in 2024 in Paris, France. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is responsible for organising the Games and for overseeing the host city's preparations. The tradition of awarding medals began in 1904; in each Olympic event, gold medals are awarded for first place, silver medals for second place, and bronze medals for third place. The Winter Olympic Games were created out of the success of the Summer Olympic Games, which are regarded as the largest and most prestigious multi-sport international event in the world.
The 1980 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad and officially branded as Moscow 1980, were an international multi-sport event held from 19 July to 3 August 1980 in Moscow, Soviet Union, in present-day Russia. The games were the first to be staged in an Eastern Bloc country, as well as the first Olympic Games and only Summer Olympics to be held in a Slavic language-speaking country. They were also the only Summer Olympic Games to be held in a self-proclaimed communist country until the 2008 Summer Olympics held in China. These were the final Olympic Games under the IOC Presidency of Michael Morris, 3rd Baron Killanin before he was succeeded by Juan Antonio Samaranch, a Spaniard, shortly afterwards.
The 1904 Summer Olympics were an international multi-sport event held in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, from 1 July to 23 November 1904. Many events were conducted at what is now known as Francis Field on the campus of Washington University in St. Louis. This was the first time that the Olympic Games were held outside Europe.
Men's association football (soccer) was contested at the 1904 Summer Olympics. A total of three club teams competed, two representing the United States, both from host city St. Louis, and one representing Canada, from Galt, Ontario. Originally, two other Canadian teams had also been entered in the competition, Berlin Rangers and the University of Toronto, but both withdrew before the draw.
The sport of field lacrosse was played at the 1904 Summer Olympics, which marked the first time that lacrosse had been featured at the Olympic Games. Three teams participated — two from Canada and one from the United States. One of the Canadian teams consisted entirely of Mohawk nation players. The victorious Shamrock Lacrosse Team is more commonly known as the Winnipeg Shamrocks.
Field lacrosse is a full contact outdoor sport played with two opposing teams of ten players each. The sport originated among Native Americans, and the modern rules of field lacrosse were initially codified by Canadian William George Beers in 1867. Field lacrosse is one of three major versions of lacrosse played internationally. The rules of men's lacrosse differ significantly from women's field lacrosse. The two are often considered to be different sports with a common root. An outdoor six-a-side version, lacrosse sixes, was established in 2021 and features six players per team, reduced field size, and shorter duration to be conducive for daily tournament play. Another version, indoor box lacrosse, is also played under different rules.
Sweden competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, from 13 to 29 August 2004. This nation has competed at every Summer Olympic Games in the modern era, except for the 1904 Summer Olympics in St. Louis. The Swedish Olympic Committee sent the nation's smallest team to the Games since the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal. A total of 115 athletes, 62 men and 53 women, competed only in 20 different sports. Women's football was the only team-based sport in which Sweden had its representation at these Games. There was only a single competitor in boxing, diving, artistic gymnastics, judo, modern pentathlon, and rowing.
A field lacrosse game was played between Canada and Great Britain at the 1908 Summer Olympics. The game was tied 9-9 in the fourth period, before Canada scored five straight goals to pull ahead. Canada won 14-10 to earn their second consecutive gold medals: until 2028, these were the only lacrosse gold medals given out in the Olympic Games.
Sports in Canada consist of a wide variety of games. The roots of organized sports in Canada date back to the 1770s, culminating in the development and popularization of the major professional games of ice hockey, lacrosse, basketball, baseball, soccer, football and cricket. Canada's official national sports are ice hockey and lacrosse. Golf, baseball, tennis, skiing, ringette, badminton, cricket, volleyball, cycling, swimming, bowling, rugby union, canoeing, curling, squash, and the study of martial arts are widely enjoyed at the youth and amateur levels. Great achievements in Canadian sports are recognized by Canada's Sports Hall of Fame, while the Lou Marsh Trophy is awarded annually to Canada's top athlete by a panel of journalists. There are numerous other Sports Halls of Fame in Canada.
The United States of America has sent athletes to every celebration of the modern Olympic Games with the exception of the 1980 Summer Olympics, during which it led a boycott in protest of the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan. The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) is the National Olympic Committee for the United States.
Christian Brothers College High School is a Lasallian Catholic college preparatory school for young men in Town and Country, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis. It is located in the Archdiocese of Saint Louis and is owned and operated by the De La Salle Christian Brothers Midwest District and is the second oldest Lasallian school in the United States.
The United States hosted the 1904 Summer Olympics in St. Louis, Missouri. American athletes won a total of 231 medals, setting a record for the most medals won at a single Olympics that still stands today.
Great Britain did not send a team to the 1904 Summer Olympics in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Numerous events were contested, of which only some were later recognised by the IOC as official Olympic events. Within these, three athletes representing Ireland participated, winning one gold and one silver medal; since Ireland was part of the United Kingdom at the time, the IOC accordingly classifies these athletes as British.
Lacrosse has been contested at two editions of the Summer Olympic Games, 1904 and 1908. Both times a Canadian team won the competition. In its first year, two teams from Canada and one team from the United States competed at the games in St. Louis, Missouri. Only two teams, one from Canada and one from Great Britain competed in 1908 in London.
John Joseph Daly was an Irish runner who won a silver medal in the steeplechase at the 1904 Summer Olympics. He competed for Ireland at the International Cross Country Championships of 1903–1906 and won two silver team medals; individually he won a bronze in 1903 and finished fourth in 1904 and 1906. When not competing for Ireland as a member of the Gaelic Athletic Association, Daly entered races as a member of the Irish American Athletic Club.
Stuart Laidlaw was a Canadian lacrosse player who competed in the 1904 Summer Olympics. He was born in Ontario and died in Vancouver. In 1904 he was member of the Shamrock Lacrosse Team which won the gold medal in the lacrosse tournament.
Joseph Élie Blanchard was a Canadian lacrosse player who competed in the 1904 Summer Olympics. Born in Montreal in 1881, he graduated as an engineer at the École Polytechnique de Montréal in 1902 before working for the city of Winnipeg in 1904. The same year, he was briefly a member of the Shamrock Lacrosse Team which won the gold medal in the lacrosse tournament on July 7, 1904, against the St.-Louis Amateur Athletic Association's team. Following the olympics, in 1905, Blanchard became the chief engineer for the city of Saint Henri. Following the city's annexion by neighboring Montreal, he continued working as an engineer for the enlarged city. His work included the sewer division and the road divisions of the city starting at 1915 before becoming superintendent of the roads department in 1918 and Chief Engineer and Director of Public Works in 1935. In 2004, 62 years after his death, Joseph Élie Blanchard was inducted along his lacrosse 1904 teammates in the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame.
Modern lacrosse in Canada has been a popular sport since the mid 1800s. Only field lacrosse was played until the 1930s, when box lacrosse was invented. In 1994 Parliament passed the National Sports of Canada Act which declared lacrosse to be "Canada's National Summer Sport", with ice hockey as "Canada's National Winter Sport".
Ice hockey, simply referred to as "hockey" in both English and French in Canada, dates back to the 19th century. The sport is very popular and played year-round and at every level in the country. Born of various influences from stick-and-ball games brought from the United Kingdom and indigenous games, the contemporary sport of ice hockey originated in Montreal. It is the official national winter sport of Canada. Hockey is widely considered Canada's national pastime, with high levels of participation by children, men, and women at various levels of competition.
