Friday August 8, 2008 TroyRecord Article 100years agoSaturday August 8, 1908 “The American athletes are returning home from the London Olympics and they are angry at their host nation .American Olympic commissioner James E. Sullivan says the treatment accorded us at the games was at least rotten. The trouble began when the Americans at the opening ceremonies discovered that their flag wasn't flying in the stadium with the other participating countries. In response they refused to dip the US flag in respect to King Edward VII and Britons interpreted this as an insult. Americans cite biased judging and outright cheating by Britons .In the 400 meter run, the judges ordered the race done over because an American runner had inadvertently forced a British competitor off the track .Three Americans refused to run in the do over and since there were only 4 finalists, the British runner won by circling the track by himself. In the tug of war the American team was eliminated early by the a British squad and the Americans said the British wore spiked shoes.In the marathon, British officials assisted Italian Donato Pietri across the finish line after he collapsed on the final lap ahead of American Billy Hayes .While judges disqualified Pietri and awarded Hayes the gold medal, the British public treated Pietri as if he had won. US team manager Mathew Halpin complained it took twelve or 15 minutes to raise the American flags but only a few seconds to raise British flags. Canadian team manager sides with the British, saying the American protests were of the most trivial nature.” (_http://www.troyrecord.com_ (http://www.troyrecord.com/) ) PS Go to the Troy Record newspaper website; at the top click on Opinions then click on This Day in the Record and it will give you about a current weeks worth of This day in History. **************AOL Search: Your one stop for directions, recipes and all other Holiday needs. Search Now. (http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100000075x1212792382x1200798498/aol?redir=http://searchblog.aol.com/2008/11/04/happy-holidays-from -aol-search/?ncid=emlcntussear00000001)