Editing Louisiana Purchase Exposition (section)

==Olympics==
{{Main|1904 Summer Olympics}}

The Fair hosted the [[1904 Summer Olympics|1904 Summer Olympic Games]], the first Olympics to be held in the United States: the Games had originally been awarded to Chicago, but after St. Louis threatened to hold a rival international competition in the same timeframe,<ref>Robert K. Barney, "Born from Dilemma: America Awakens to the Modern Olympic Games, 1901–1903," ''Olympika'' 1 (1992): 92–135</ref> the Games were relocated.

Nonetheless, the sporting events, spread out over several months, were overshadowed by the Fair. Due to high travel costs and European tensions arising from the Russo-Japanese War, many European athletes did not attend the Games, nor did the founder of the modern Olympics, Baron [[Pierre de Coubertin]].