Separated by a century in time and about 890 miles in distance, the London 2012 Olympic Games and the Stockholm 1912 Olympic Games are nonetheless contemporaneous in the mind, where they have striking similarities.

First, they share the obligatory pageantry common to almost all Olympic Games since the dawn of the modern era 116 years ago in Athens, Greece.

Second, they both had as spectators members of the European host country's royal family, headed by the U.K.'s Queen Elizabeth II this year and Sweden's King Gustav V 100 years ago.

And, third, they each featured the participation of one who is arguably the greatest Olympic athlete of the modern games: swimming sensation Michael Phelps in 2012, and track-and-field titan Jim Thorpe in 1912.

Appearing below are photographs of the first '12 Olympic Games. These photos are in the George Grantham Bain Collection of the U.S. Library of Congress. The collection represents the photographic files of one of America's earliest news-picture agencies.