The Games found a great host city in Birmingham but are still searching for a new meaning and purpose
It all started with a row. When a spindly 20-year-old from Vancouver called Percy Williams won the Olympics 100m final in Amsterdam in 1928, it was such an improbable result he was made to wait for his medal while the organisers tried to find a Canadian flag to run up the pole.
The one they found was so small that Canadian officials complained to the International Olympic Committee. That wasn’t all they were unhappy about. The Canadians were offended the band did not seem to know their anthem either and, by the way, the US team were allowed to practise on the track when no one else was.
