'Grandfather's 1908 Olympic medal'
- Published
Edward Blatch on the left in the white uniform parading during London's first Olympic games at the White City stadium
Charles Fleming from Devon has a piece of Olympic history in his house.
His wife's grandfather, British athlete Edward Blatch, received a commemorative medal during the games in 1908 - the first Olympic games to be held in London.
He tells more about the medal and the man who received it.
"This Olympic commemorative medal was presented to my wife's grandfather at the 1908 Olympic games in London.
His name was Edward Blatch. He was a recognised British athlete and also took part in the then empire games, or as we now call them - the Commonwealth Games.
Charles Flemming: We are proud to have that history in our family
He was part of the gymnastics team of Britain during the 1908 games in London. He took part in an exhibition event and was awarded a commemorative medal along with all the other athletes at these games.
He wasn't part of the competing team, he only took part in the exhibition event at the White City stadium.
We think he didn't take part in the actual competitions because his speciality was the rings and I don't think that was recognised as an official Olympics sport at the time.
They held similar exhibition tournaments for tennis when tennis wasn't a recognised Olympic sport.
The interesting story of the games in 1908 is that they were supposed to take part in Italy, but because Mount Vesuvius erupted, London was given the opportunity to host them. The White City Stadium was built very quickly because of that.
We are very proud to have that history in our family. I am sitting here with my wife and her sister and the medal is right in front of us as we are watching the games on TV.
On the one side of the medal you see the names of Elis, which is where the first Olympic games were held, Athens, Paris, St Luis and London, which is where modern Olympic games had been held so far.
London is in the unique position to have been a host of Olympic games three time.
On the other side of the medal you see a chariot of fire."