In the 1930s, the world was going through the Great Depression. A large population of America was suffering from starvation. Many countries were in the grip of recession. In such a situation, only America showed interest in hosting the 1932 Olympic Games. he also gets hosting
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The Olympic Games began on 30 July 1932. A record number of more than one lakh people attended the opening ceremony. According to tradition, the Olympics were inaugurated by the head of the country, but the then US President Herbert Hoover did not attend the event.
In the third episode of ‘Olympic Ke Kisse’ series, you will know why the American President boycotted the Olympics in his own country? Why did the 1936 Olympics become hell for the Jews; How many times has the organization of the Olympics been in danger?
On 28 June 1914, Prince Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife Sophie arrived on a state visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina. Where both were warmly welcomed. After the grand welcome, Ferdinand and his wife were moving towards the destination in an open car accepting the greetings of the people.
Prince Ferdinand of Austria and his wife before their assassination.
Suddenly a person from the crowd throws a bomb towards their car, but both the husband and wife somehow escape the attack. After recovering from the accident, the convoy had moved ahead some distance when a 19-20 year old boy came out from the crowd carrying a pistol. Before Ferdinand and his wife could understand anything, the young man makes both of them victims of his bullets. The next moment the security personnel arrest the young man. The attacker is said to be from Serbia.
Angered by the murder of its prince, Austria, along with Hungary, attacked Serbia. Many times smaller Serbia took the help of Soviet Russia in the war. Soon other countries also joined the war. The first world war started from here which continued for the next four years i.e. till 1918.
Olympics postponed for the first time due to world war, many countries faced ban
Many major events around the world were affected during the First World War. One of which was Olympics. The Olympic Games were held in Stockholm in 1912, before the start of World War I. Where it was decided that the 1916 Olympics would be held in Berlin.
Even before the event, the whole world including Germany got caught in the world war. Although it was believed that the Olympics would end before 1916. Coubertin and the IOC believed that if the Games were held in Berlin, it would inspire peace throughout the world, including Germany.
German Olympic Organizing Committee Chairman Dr. Theodor Lewald and Secretary Dr. Karl Diem tried their best to make the Berlin Olympics successful, but Germany’s situation worsened due to the World War in 1915.
The news of the cancellation of the Olympics appeared on page number 8 in the April 11, 1916 issue of the Springfield Republican newspaper.
During this period, an attempt was made to organize the IOC Games in some other country, but it was not successful. Finally, in 1920, after a wait of eight years, the Olympic Games were held in Antwerp, Belgium, in which players from countries like Germany, Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary and Turkey were not included.
Olympic athletes housed in post offices and hospitals in 1932
After the First World War, the Great Depression of 1932 had a major impact on the Olympics. In October 1929, there was a rapid decline in the American stock market. This brought the world into the midst of the Great Depression within a year.
People lining up in America for free coffee and food during the Depression.
Many people in America became homeless and unemployed. Many parts of the country were going through starvation-like conditions. During this period, American workers protested in Washington State’s Capitol Olympia, which was also called Hunger March. To deal with serious problems like hunger, food was also distributed to the needy from government offices in America.
Children of people seeking jobs during the recession.
The United States hosted the Olympic Games for the second time amid the Great Depression, but many countries did not want to take the risk of sending their athletes to the Olympics. This was the reason why the least number of players took part in this event after 1904. In comparison to 1928, only half the players arrived in 1932. Due to the depression, the event which was supposed to last for two to three months was reduced to 2-3 to three weeks. Female athletes were accommodated in luxury hotels, but to save expenses, male athletes had to stay in hostels, hospitals, post offices and schools.
A record number of spectators attended the opening ceremony of the 1932 Olympics.
Recession is also considered to be the reason for US President Herbert Hoover not attending the Olympics. Herbert Hoover was invited to open the Olympics, but he did not attend the opening ceremony. The reason for which were the American soldiers who participated in the First World War.
After the First World War, the age of soldiers had increased. He had become unemployed and was demanding bonus from the government to survive during the recession. To support these soldiers, Herbert Hoover decided not to participate in the Olympics.
Why did Jewish athletes decide to stay out of the 1936 Olympics?
Four years after 1932, the Olympic Games reached Berlin, Germany in 1936. Berlin was chosen as host in 1931. Whereas in 1932, the Nazi government led by Hitler came into power in Germany. Given Hitler’s history, Berlin’s hosting was in danger.
History started proving true when Hitler started imposing restrictions on Jews one after another. When the International Olympic Committee came to know about this, it asked questions to the organizers. The German organizers assured the committee that no athlete would be discriminated against in the Olympics, but despite the assurance, the situation started worsening instead of improving. The Nazi government banned Jewish players from even playing.
Nazi dictator Hitler during the 1936 Berlin Olympics.
In view of the increasing atrocities on Jews in Germany, calls for boycott of the Berlin Olympics started being raised from many countries including America. America held an important place in the Olympics in terms of performance. In such a situation, the demand to hold the games somewhere else started rising.
Seeing their Olympic hosting rights in danger, German delegates invited US Olympic Committee President Avery Brundage to a major event in Germany. After receiving VIP treatment from Nazi hosts, Brundage explained that the situation for Jewish athletes in Germany is now better than ever. After returning to his country, he also announced America’s entry in the Berlin Olympics. After this incident, some American newspapers even called Brundage a Nazi puppet.
After the change in America’s stance, the Berlin Olympics got the support of many other countries and the way for the 1936 Games was cleared. However, even after all this, many such restrictions were imposed which made the Berlin Olympics a hell for Jewish athletes. Jewish athletes from other countries stayed away from sports to avoid abuse by the Nazi government.
Black Jesse Owens broke Hitler’s pride
Jesse Owens after winning an Olympic medal in 1936.
In this Olympics surrounded by controversies, all eyes were on African-American athlete Jesse Owens. Who broke three world records within an hour in Michigan in 1935. Even in the Berlin Olympics, he created history by winning a total of 4 gold medals in events like 100 meter and 200 meter race, long jump and 4×100 meter race.
At the same time, this black athlete also weakened the agenda of Hitler and the Nazi government to keep Aryan athletes in focus. However, even after this, Owens had to face discrimination due to being black. The people of Germany also liked him a lot, often the crowd was seen running after him for photos and autographs.
Japan’s Olympics went ‘missing’ in the Second World War
The 1936 Olympic Games were over, but the Nazis’ fight against racism and anti-Semitism was still going on, which also led to the Second World War. In 1939, Germany’s Nazi army attacked Poland. England and France came forward to help Poland and declared war on Germany. Within no time, World War II, one of the cruelest wars in the world, began. In the last three months of 1939, the Nazis killed 65 thousand Jews and Polish people.
Japan was chosen to host the 1940 Olympics amid the Second World War.
Japan was going to become the first country in Asia to host the Olympics. The date of September 21, 1940 was set as the opening ceremony, but by 1938, tensions between Japan and China began to increase. As the war between the two countries intensified, the chances of hosting the Olympics became weaker. The Japanese government invested money in war instead of sports. In the end, citing deteriorating relations with China, Japan refused to host the Olympics. Therefore, the world media named the 1940 Olympics as the missing Olympics.
After Japan, the hosting of the Olympics was handed over to Helensky, but due to the Second World War the event could not be held here either. Ultimately the Olympics were canceled first for 1944 and then for 1948. Finally, in 1948, the Olympic Games started again from London, but players from Germany and Japan were not given entry in it.
Photograph of the opening ceremony of the 1948 London Olympics.
America-USSR’s cold war reached the Olympic grounds
After the Second World War the world was mainly divided into two groups. One group in which was America and its allied countries. On the other side was the Soviet Union. Both groups wanted to somehow show themselves superior to each other. Which included everything from politics and diplomacy to cinema and sports. On the one hand, the USSR had created a separate ministry to showcase communist ideology in cinema, while on the other hand, it had prepared a special system to overtake America in sports, especially the Olympics.
Joseph Stalin, the ruler of the Soviet Union, was worried that Soviet athletes were not of world level. In such a situation, he made huge investments to ensure success in the Olympics. Considerable changes were made in sports facilities, academies, coaching and training programs. In the USSR, athletes were kept in training camps away from home for almost a year.
Communist sports associations would put pressure on coaches for better results. Whose effect was visible on the players also. The coaches used to abuse the players physically and verbally, and also kept them hungry for several days. Apart from this, without the player’s consent and without any knowledge, he was also given various types of pills in the name of vitamins and supplements every day. The effect of this dictatorial sports culture was also seen in the better performance of the Soviet Union in the Olympics held in the 60s.
Due to Covid, Olympics were held for the first time not after 4 but 5 years
Nearly 7 decades after the Second World War, the threat of cancellation of the Olympic Games once again loomed in the year 2020. Amid Covid, on March 24, 2020, the Japanese government postponed the Games for a year on the advice of the IOC. This was the first time in the history of the Olympics when an event was postponed by a year from the scheduled dates.
Japan did not want these games to be canceled in any way because it had to face many problems earlier for these games. First, Japan faced tough competition from other countries for hosting, while the people of Tokyo were also opposing the event. Japan hosted the Olympics in 2021 after overcoming difficulties like Olympic expenses, contracts with foreign companies, environment challenges and Covid.
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In the fourth episode of the Olympic series, we will know why the Olympics had to face boycott from various countries from 1976 to 1988?
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Book reference-
- Hitler’s Olympics The 1936 Berlin Olympic Games – By Christopher Hilton
- Hitler’s Olympics The Story of The 1936 Nazi Games – By Anton Rippon
- What Are The Summer Olympics – Gail Herman
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