瑞典是现代体育开展较早的国家之一。1894年瑞典就向刚成立的国际奥委会表示过，希望能在自己的国土上举办奥运会。 但是，前几届会址已选定。因此，柏林弃权后，瑞典欣然接受了主办1912年奥运会的重任，地点就选定在首都斯德哥尔摩。本届奥运会应邀参赛的有28个国家，运动员共2547人，其中女子57人，男子2490人。参赛的国家和运动员数都是创纪录的。

KEY FACTS

Opening date: 05 May 1912

Closing date: 27 July 1912

The Host City: Stockholm (Sweden)

Sports: 14

STOCKHOLM  1912 Games of the V Olympiad

Held in Stockholm, the 1912 Olympics were a model of efficiency. The Swedish hosts introduced the use of unofficial electronic timing devices for the track events, as well as the first use of a public address system. The modern pentathlon was added to the Olympic program. Women's events in swimming and diving were also introduced. Sweden would not allow boxing contests to be held in their country.

After the Games, the International Olympic Committee decided to limit the power of host nations in deciding the Olympic program. If there was an unofficial theme of the 1912 Games, it was endurance. The course for the cycling road race was 320km (199 miles), the longest race of any kind in Olympic history.

The most popular hero of the 1912 Games was Jim Thorpe of the United States. Thorpe won the five-event pentathlon and shattered the world record in the ten-event decathlon. One member of the Austrian team that finished second in the team sabre fencing event was Otto Herschmann, who was, at that time, president of the Austrian Olympic Committee. Herschmann is the only sitting national Olympic committee president to win an Olympic medal.