White City (stadium)

The stadium "White City" for many years was one of the largest stadiums in the UK, until it was dismantled in 1985. The construction of the stadium was started in 1907 and completed in 1908 for the summer Olympic Games. The right to host this Olympics passed to Britain from Italy after Rome was unable to fulfill financial obligations and was denied the right to host this international tournament. The building in London was built on 140 acres of land and consisted of a complex of palaces and exhibition buildings, most of which had a white exterior, which served as the name - White City. This complex was part of the Franco-British Exhibition Center. During the 1908 Summer Olympics, athletics , football and cycling competitions , as well as the competitions of the first modern marathon, were held at this stadium. After these games, the stadium was almost never used until 1927, when the Greyhound Automobile Racing Association began racing. In parallel, rugby , boxing and track and field competitions were held here. By 1980, the stadium was almost exclusively used for dog races. In 1984, the decision was made about the demolition and the last event that took place at this stadium were the dog races on September 22, 1984 ^{[2] [3] [4]} .