What the top sports looked like 100 years ago – in pictures

Sports has come a long way in a century and these images show just how far

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The Tour de France is one of the most iconic events in sports. The race was first organised in 1903 to increase sales for the newspaper L'Auto. It was held annually since its first edition in 1903 except when it was stopped for the two World Wars. Here, Ottavio Bottecchia of Italy chases Lucien Buysse of Belgium through St Cloud during the final stage of the 1925 Tour de France. Bottecchia went on to win and Buysse came second. Getty

Ajit Vijaykumar

Jun 29, 2020

For the best part of three months, there was no sport at all, and the world realised just how important it is to daily lives.

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But how did sports reach this level? Everything starts at some point and it is amazing to see how far various disciplines have come since their humble beginnings in the 18th or 19th century.

Here we have put together images of major sports and events from 100 years ago – in the 1920s – to show how far they have come.

To view the next image in the gallery, click on the arrows or simply swipe.