Olympics on Film

Speed skaters brave the weather to race round the track at the 1948 Olympic Games in St Moritz, Switzerland.

A television crew documents a day in the life of a Sunderland gymnastics champion and Tokyo Olympics competitor.

From pick to paddle: Nottinghamshire miner Billy Churn in training for the Olympic canoeing event in Helsinki.

Is this 1896 - or ten years later? An early snapshot of Olympic competition at Athens, the home of the Games.

It's the Olympics, but not as we know it - Athens does its own thing in 1906.

Thousands of rowers in procession on the lake Langer See in Grünau, Germany

On your marks, get set, go! Women athletes in training at Battersea Park, London.

Competitors, officials, advocates and spectators take part in the second awe-inspiring Paralympic Games, held in Tokyo.

Much Wenlock has a special place in the history of the modern Olympic games - and perhaps it could help to resolve a potential crisis in Moscow.

Fencer Bill Hoskyns defends medals after a break-in at home

Bill Hoskyns stays en garde for the local press

Bertie Hill demonstrates his equestrian skills and shows his horses at Rapscott on Exmoor

The Cornu-Breton Open Championship is won by seventeen-year old

Amateur newsreel covering the Harrow Marathon and a packed Shrove Tuesday event on Pinner High Street attended by Ronny Barker.

Trials and tribulations in outdoor tennis, football, wrestling and marathon running at the 1912 Stockholm Olympic Games.

Bustling street scenes in the build-up to the 1936 Berlin Olympics and atmospheric shots of the opening ceremony.

Is it a food or drink? Ovaltine takes the Gold at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics.

Death-defying rope gymnastics stun spectators at the Summer Olympics in Stockholm.

Jack Beresford wins his second Gold Cup on the River Thames

All the daredevil action captured by newsreel cameras perched at the top of the ski jump at St Moritz.

From the Austerity Games of 1948 comes G H Wooton's short film showing Olympic rowing events held at Henley-on-Thames

Stoke Mandeville Hospital, birthplace of the Paralympic Games, hosts its 1960 sports jamboree - with basketball, archery and weight lifting

The first post-war Olympic Games feature in John Bell's film from 1948 - with both the opening and closing ceremonies and an equestrian event

With neither gears nor lycra to help them, the cream of Britain's cyclists battle it out at the Herne Hill velodrome ahead of the 1928 Olympics.

Rare film of an exciting sprint and cycle racing event just after the war, capturing most of the large expectant crowd and many competitors.

The real Chariots of Fire heroes feature in this comprehensive look at the 1924 Olympic Games.

The incredible highs and crushing lows of the Belfast's boxing community

“It isn’t the will to win, it’s that you don’t like to get beaten,” states the redoubtable Harvey Smith, revealed as smart, tough and easy going.

Dartchery aims for bullseye

Participants come in all shapes and sizes to pound the streets of York and beguile the crowds with an eclectic range of pedestrianistic styles.

Behind the scenes at horse trials at Eridge, including the final trial for British and US Olympic teams.

Ready, steady, relay! This newsreel captures the pepped-up mood at the 1908 South London Schools Sports event.

Barnsley miner's daughter Dorothy Hyman sprints to Olympic glory in Rome.

The final few days of the 1948 London Olympics see an assortment of sports from a variety of venues.

The 1948 London Olympics see Wembley stadium host the athletics plus diving and the swimming at the Empire Pool.

British Empire Olympic athletes take on the USA in the track and field at Stamford Bridge.

The sporting event for which the Wales Empire Pool was built in Cardiff, reflecting the city's promotion, in 1955, to capital of Wales.

Michael Shelton and his gold medal in wheelchair snooker are rightly celebrated by the mining community of Newstead.

Britain's sailing team competes in selection trials at Weymouth and preparations are underway at Kiel for the 1972 Olympics.

Watch out! Splashes aplenty as female swimmers and divers compete to represent Great Britain in the 1928 Olympics.

Olympian Cyclist Colin Lewis is interviewed by David Vine

German athletes compete for the chance to represent their country in the 1928 Summer Olympics.

The 1956 British Olympic boxing team arrives at Heathrow, returning from a successful Games in Melbourne.

Eclectic mix of post-war stories from the world of coal, including a Dumfermline miner in training for the Winter Olympics.

Olympics in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower - literally and figuratively.

Want to get into rowing? Here's a 1926 masterclass by a rowing eight and champion single scullers Jack Beresford and Ted Phelps.

Chariots of Fire inspiration Lord Burghley shows off his hurdling prowess at the Amsterdam Olympics in 1928.

The Vetch Field stadium in Swansea is occupied by Urdd Gobaith Cymru – The Welsh League of Hope – for 2 days of mass gymnastics in June 1933.

Footage of a breakthrough athletics event which paved the way for women to compete more fully at the Olympic Games.