Berlin 1936

The Berlin games in 1936 (awarded to Germany before Hitler came to power) “would have to take the first prize for the most controversial”, according to the Olympic Historians’ Society Vice President David Wallechinsky.

The Nazis drenched the games in propaganda. There were calls for boycotts - and actual boycotts by some Jewish athletes.

But the United States did attend after Avery Brundage, President of the American Olympic Committee, overcame calls for a US boycott.

The irony is that the Games are now also remembered for the performance of the black US athlete Jesse Owens, who won four gold medals under Hitler’s nose.

Incidentally, the Olympic torch relay idea was started by the Nazi organisers of the 36 Games as part of their self-glorification effort. It remains to be seen if, after this year’s protests, the relay survives.

Comments always welcome.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 15th, 2008 at 2:44 pm and is filed under The Quork Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.