U.S. Life Saving Exhibition Lake - St. Louis, Missouri - Modern Olympic Venues on Waymarking.com

The swimming, diving and water polo events were held in the U.S. Life Saving Exhibition Lake. The lake was built for the 1904 Worlds Fair in which the Olympics were held in conjunction with. The lake was used for open boat life saving exhibitions by the Coast Guard for the fair. Adjacent to the lake was the Agricultural Exhibition Hall for the fair (along with farm animals), and by September when the Olympics events were held the lake was less than sanitary. The swimming events included races of 50 yards, 100 yards, 220 yards, 440 yards, 880 yards and one mile freestyle, 100 yards backstroke and 440 yards breaststroke, and the 4x50 yards freestyle relay. These games differentiated between breaststroke and freestyle, so that there were now two defined styles (breaststroke and backstroke) and freestyle, where most people swam Trudgen. These games also featured a competition to plunge for distance, where the distance without swimming, after jumping in a pool, was measured.

The swimming events were often controversial in the scoring and judging.

Water polo was held also in the lake. Only U.S. teams participated in the event because of controversy involving the use of an under inflated ball and the general lack of rules. The water polo players suffered the most from the unsanitary conditions of the lake due the length of time they remained in the water.

Diving was held for the first time at the St. Louis Olympics also contraversial due to the judging favoring the American style of diving over the European style. The final decision of the medal awards was not completed until a week after the competion due to this contraversy.

After the Worlds Fair the temporary structures used for the fair were removed and the lake was refilled and now is used as part of a golf course.

Olympic Games: St. Louis Summer 1904 Sport held at venue: Aquatics - Swimming Sport held at venue No 2: Aquatics - Water polo Additional sport(s) held at venue: Diving Start and/or Finish: Not Aplicable Web Address with Additional Details: [Web Link] Reference Supporting Olympic Use: Website Details of Reference Supporting Olympic Use: http://www.explorestlouis.com/factSheets/fact_worldsFair.asp?PageType=4 Current Use: Forest Park Golf Course Olympic Games No 2: Not listed Olympic Games No 3: Not listed Parking Area: Not Listed

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Date Logged Log User Rating   11/01/2013 wildernessmama visited it