A year-long celebration

The 1912 Olympic Games are a milestone in Swedish history as it helped turn Sweden into a sports-fan nation and made sport a much more accessible and natural part of Swedish everyday life. In addition, it gave Swedes a more open-minded view of the world outside the country. Known as the “Sunshine Olympics”, this edition of the Games was commemorated in 2012 through the Olympic Centennial Jubilee, a year-long festival held in the City of Stockholm to mark the 100 years since the hosting of the 1912 Summer Olympic Games. This project named “Arena Stockholm 1912-2012 – One hundred years of sports and culture” was conceived as an opportunity to reinvigorate interest in sports among all Swedes with a focus on young people.

The celebration contained a packed programme of over 115 events which took place across the Greater Stockholm area. This encompassed events of all types and sizes. Cultural and educational events including museum exhibitions, historic city tours and introductions to new sports – many of which were free of charge – were offered to locals and visitors in the City. Similarly, many sporting events were held as part of the celebrations, ranging from mass participation events such as the Jubilee Marathon to elite competitions and world championships.

Olympic Legacy as cultural asset

The purpose of the project was to highlight to the citizens of Stockholm the rich Olympic history of the City. With the Games having been hosted so long ago, one of the primary aims of the Jubilee celebrations was to reignite the Olympic flame among the citizens of Stockholm. The 1912 Games were a pivotal moment in the history of the Olympics as they were the first to bring the Games into their current concentrated format, prioritising the spectator and serving as a model for all subsequent Games. This contribution to the modern Olympic experience was at the heart of the Jubilee messaging which aimed to connect with this proud past and boost the collective morale of citizens as a result.

By all and for all Stockholmers

The organisers wanted to generate an atmosphere of enthusiasm and energy, reviving the Olympic flame and spreading the Olympic values amongst the entire population of Stockholm.

The City of Stockholm worked to ensure that all its residents are, and continue to be, physically active, especially young people. That was one of the project’s most important goals. The programme itself was run by the City of Stockholm and, more specifically, the Sports and Recreation Administration. Local sports clubs and federations were strongly encouraged to get involved in the various events. A huge number took this opportunity and were heavily integrated into the marketing and promotion of the celebrations. This was particularly the case for Sunshine Week, a 7-day sport extravaganza with multiple sports demonstrations and initiations open to the public. This was deliberately designed to highlight to the public the various sporting opportunities on offer to them in the City. With a growing population, this helped to inform many of the previously unaware citizens the various options available to them.

The event was received extremely positively and many of the events and features of the 2012 programme still remain today. Much of the knowledge and the skills generated in hosting such a variety of events in the City have assisted in the continued development of Stockholm as a world-class destination for elite international sporting events.