'Hey Pal! Who Won the Marathon?' The Illustrated London News's Coverage of Sport in 1908, an Olympic Year

Abstract

The complete digitization of The Illustrated London News (1842–2003) enables a closer look at its contents and coverage of particular events and areas of interest. In this article, we look at how The Illustrated London News covered sport, including the London Olympic Games in 1908, during that year. We determined that the newspaper devoted comparatively little special coverage to these Olympic Games apart from the marathon. This was because the social goals of its readers were not perceived to be met by this relatively new and unproven international sporting event. Unlike more established domestic events, the games failed to excite the editors and readers of the first mass-readership illustrated newspaper.