Tug of War was contested at five Olympics, from 1900 to 1920. In 1908, Great Britain entered three teams – all recruited from various Police forces: City of London, Metropolitan ('K' Division), and Liverpool.
At the 1900 games, in Paris, a combined team from Denmark and Sweden beat a French team in the final. At St. Louis in 1904, six teams entered – including four from the USA. The South African and Greek teams were beaten in the two quarter–finals, meaning that four US teams competed in the semi–finals and two of them contested the final. In 1912, in Stockholm, only two teams entered; Great Britain were beaten in the only match by Sweden.
At Antwerp, in 1920, five teams entered. Great Britain defeated the USA in the only quarter–final, going on to beat Belgium in the semi–final and the Netherlands in the final. (The Netherlands beat Italy in the other semi–final.)
© Haydn Thompson 2021