For the first time, the XI Olympic Games of 1936 in Berlin were used as a powerful ideological mouthpiece, the main image project of the Nazi
IIIReich. Never before had the Olympics been held with such pomp - only 20 million Reichsmarks were spent on festive events - a record-breaking amount. About 4 million fans came to the games, radio reporters from 41 countries of the world worked in Berlin. 49 countries and 4066 athletes participated in the games; in addition to sports records, they set new record- by the number of participants. The former modesty of the Olympics was forever done away with.
Although the tradition of lighting the Olympic flame has existed since 1928, however, for the first time the fire was delivered to Berlin from the Greek Olympia by runners passing the torch, as baton The Olympic torch relay began in 1936.
For the first time the opening of the Olympics was televised in live- Twenty-five large screens were installed in various places in Berlin, and people could freely watch the progress of the Olympic Games.
1. Games are questionable.
After the First World War, Germany was not allowed to participate in the 1920 and 1924 Olympic Games. On May 13, 1931, the International Olympic Committee decided to hold the 1936 Games in Germany - such a step would help the country in crisis return to the bosom of civilization. However, in 1933, Hitler's Nazis came to power, and the following year, serious debate flared up in the world about the advisability of holding the Games in Berlin. They were especially stormy in the USA - Jewish and Catholic, secular and religious organizations - the main athletes of the future Olympics were categorically against it. However, in Germany itself, the Olympic Games were considered "flooded by the French, Belgians, Poles and Negro-Jews (!)". The fate of the Olympics was becoming uncertain. Back in 1932, the newspaper "People's Observer" (Völkischer Beobachter) in its comments on the 10th games of 1932 in Los Angeles wrote:
"Negroes have nothing to do at the Olympics [...] Today, unfortunately, it is not uncommon for a free person to be forced to challenge the palm of the black-skinned, the Negro. This is an unprecedented insult and dishonor for the Olympic idea, and the ancient Greeks would have turned over in their graves, if they knew what modern people have turned into their sacred National Games[...] The next Olympic Games will take place in 1936 in Berlin. We hope that those in positions of responsibility know what their duty is. Blacks should be excommunicated. We are waiting for this"
.
Four years later, such "conversations in the ranks" in Germany ceased.
2. Preparation.
Hitler perfectly understood the opportunity to demonstrate to the world a new, revived and, most importantly, peace-loving Germany. The task was ambitious - to outshine all previous games both in terms of the scope of the competition and the number of participants and spectators. In addition to the German Olympic Committee, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Propaganda were involved in organizing the Olympics, and a whole army of special emissaries was sent abroad to attract foreign tourists.
Large-scale construction work began. Based on the previously built sports complex"Olympia Park", erected before the First World War, when Germany was going to host the failed VI Olympic Games in 1916, a grandiose project for that time was developed. The plan included the construction of an 86,000-seat stadium, a separate hockey stadium, a riding arena, a swimming pool, an outdoor sports arena and the Olympic village for 140 cottages.
Not only the builders were preparing. The branches of the NSDAP, the German Ministry of the Interior and the Berlin police issued a mass of orders and directives, which prescribed from June 1 to September 15 to remove all anti-Semitic slogans, it was forbidden to use prisoners in work carried out near the roads. On July 16, 1936, an anti-gypsy raid took place, about 800 gypsies - residents of Berlin and its environs were arrested and placed in a special camp Marzahn (Berlin-Marzahn). We didn't forget about the burghers - "every owner of the house must keep the front garden in perfect order."
In Berlin, all signs of anti-Semitism completely disappeared, the members of the IOC audit committee were able to meet with Jewish athletes, who, of course, assured them of their complete freedom to play sports in the new Germany. Two weeks after the end of the games, everything will return to normal.
3. Construction.
The design and construction of the Olympic complex was carried out by the architect Werner March ( Werner Julius March) between 1934 and 1936, the construction of the stadium alone cost 77 million marks. The original design of the stadium had a metal frame, but Hitler, who preferred other materials, succeeded in replacing the metal with natural stone, which gave the stadium an antique character. Here the “Theory of the Value of Ruins” by the Führer’s favorite architect Albert Speer played its role, according to which “modern buildings assembled from building structures [...] were ill-suited to become a “bridge of tradition”, which, according to Hitler’s plan, should be transferred to future generations: it is inconceivable that the rusting heaps of rubble would evoke the heroic enthusiasm that Hitler admired in the monuments of the past. [Therefore, it was necessary] to create such structures, the ruins of which through the centuries or (as we calculated) through the millennia would correspond to the Roman ruins " .
The theory was tested in the 45th - the stadium building survived.
4. Opening.
"On August 1, under the solemn ringing of the Olympic bell, Hitler opened the games surrounded by kings, princes, ministers and numerous guests of honor. When the former Olympic champion marfoner from Greece, Spyridon Louis, handed him an olive branch as a "symbol of love and peace," the choir sang a hymn written Richard Strauss and flocks of peace doves soared into the sky.In this picture of a reconciled planet, created by Hitler, the fact that some of the teams entering the stadium (including the French who had just been provocated), passing by the podium, threw up their hands in fascist salute, which they later, catching up points in terms of resistance, willingly announced the "Olympic salute."
Joachim Fest, "Hitler. Biography", book. 6, ch. 2.
5. Game statistics.
The Olympics lasted from 1 to 16 August 1936.
The number of athletes is 4066 (3738 men, 328 women). 129 sets of medals were played in 19 sports. The number of participating countries is 49. For the first time, Afghanistan, Bermuda, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Liechtenstein and Peru were represented - the USSR did not participate in the Olympic movement until 1952.
6. Awards.
7. Rewards are not for everyone.
The first two degrees were awarded for exceptional merits in the organization of the games, the 3rd for merits during their conduct. Both German and foreign citizens were allowed to be awarded.
The number of those awarded with the 1st and 2nd degree is 767 people, the 3rd - 3,364.
8. The book "Olympia 1936"
Album "Olympia" -1936", published in a circulation of 600 thousand copies (series "Z igaretten-Bilderdist published for propaganda purposes).
Most of the b/w photographs about the Olympics are from the album.
9. Leni Riefenstahl. "Olympia"
The Olympic competitions became the material for the creation of a documentary film masterpiece - the film by Leni Riefenstahl ( Leni Riefenstahl) "Olympia" (Olympia, 1938).
Film Awards:
1938
- State Prize of Germany;
1938
- The main prize of the Venice Film Festival (which was previously modestly called the "Mussolini Cup") for the best film; also prizes in Sweden and Greece;
1938
- Gold medal of the Berlin Olympic Games 1936 from the International Olympic Committee (which Leni Riefenstahl received only in 2001, at the age of 99).
1948
- Gold medal of the Olympic Committee (and this is after the war);
1948
- Olympic Diploma of the International Film Festival in Lausanne;
1956
- Included in the top ten films of all time (I don't know why).
Nevertheless, I recommend to watch - you will not regret it.
10. Achievements.
The show demonstrated at the Olympiad"36 was a colossal audience success. Germany celebrated its victory at the XI Olympiad - German athletes won the largest number medals, German hospitality and brilliant organization received universal recognition from the guests. Many newspaper reports echoed the New York Times' laudatory stories that the games had "returned Germany back to the fold of the nations" and even made it "more human".
The bait was swallowed in full.
11. Mythology of the Olympics.
A legend stubbornly associated with the 1936 Olympics is that Hitler refused to shake hands with Jesse Owens, a black American athlete who won 4 gold medals. Some go even further, reporting that after his victory on the run, Hitler allegedly defiantly left Olympic Stadium. Alas, it is not. It's simple - before the procedure for awarding the winners in the Olympic Committee, Hitler was told that during the presentation of medals to the winners, he must either shake hands with everyone or no one. The Fuhrer chose the second option*.
________________________________________ _____________
*- from book Georges Bernage, "Berlin. 1945"
, Heimdal, 2005
On the photos of the album Olympia -1936", pp. 17, 23, 26, 27 and 29 camera focused on black athletes.
12. "Defeat? No!"
The victories of African-American athletes have always been presented as a complete defeat of the bad Nazi racial ideology in front of democracies Western civilization(and this is with discrimination against blacks in the then America of the 30s). Like, the Olympic Games, according to the plan of the Nazi organizers, were supposed to pass under the sign of the superiority of the Aryan race and demonstrate to all honest people the correctness of their racial theories. Yes, pardon, in order to achieve this, you need to win ALL OLYMPIC MEDALS in all sports - no one set such a crazy task for the German national team.
Who is Jesse Owens!
The main task of the games is to demonstrate the advantages of totalitarianism against the backdrop of the crisis of the 30s, to get the souls of future collaborators-collaborators, to recruit a potential "fifth column" before the coming conquest of Europe, and if possible, the rest of the racially inferior world. The second goal is to attach a beautiful sports showcase to the huge arsenal of weapons that Germany has already turned into.
And both tasks were brilliantly accomplished.
13. XIIOlympic Games "40.
Germany attacked Poland on September 1, 1939 - just three years later, the "hospitable" and "peace-loving" organizer of the Olympic Games unleashed the Second World War. The next Olympics was planned in Tokyo. Instead of the promised sports, On December 7, 41, the Japanese arranged Pearl Harbor for America.
14. Photos of the Olympics.
49 countries. 4066 athletes (331 women). 19 sports. Leaders in the unofficial team standings: 1. Germany (33-26-30); 2. USA (24-20-12); 3. Hungary (10-1-5)
Eleven cities on three continents claimed the organization of the Games of the XI Olympiad in 1936: nine European cities, four of them from one country - Germany: Berlin, Cologne, Nuremberg and Frankfurt am Main; the capital of Hungary - Budapest, the capital of Italy - Rome, the capital of Ireland - Dublin and two cities from other parts of the world: Egyptian - Alexandria and Argentinean - Buenos Aires. For the first time, so many cities competed for the honor of hosting the Olympics. In 1932, the IOC granted the right to host the Olympics to Berlin. Recall that this happened a year before the Nazis came to power in Germany.
But intensified preparations for the Games began already under the Nazi regime. However, even before the start of the Games, it became clear in what atmosphere they would be held. The leadership of Germany decided in practice to prove to the whole world the correctness of their racial theories. The Olympics was supposed to be a triumph for the fair-haired "supermen". It was they who were supposed to be the most capable, strong, fast, dexterous. To achieve this, absolutely every means was used. Berlin is decorated with imperial luxury. Centennial lindens were dug up from the Unter den Linden boulevard and replaced with a forest of silk banners with a swastika, and the trees were transplanted in a round dance around the newly built Olympic Village, which later became a model for all subsequent Olympic villages. The stadium was built new, with the latest technology, for 100,000 seats.
To outshine all previous Games in terms of the scope of the competition and the number of participants, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Propaganda were placed at the service of the Olympics. A whole army of special emissaries was sent abroad to attract foreign tourists. As a result, the Olympics was a huge audience success: about 4 million fans came to it. Journalists from 41 countries worked in the German capital. To coincide with the Olympic Games, the convocation in Berlin of various international congresses and meetings. On the streets and squares of the German capital, flags with a swastika and five Olympic rings. The Nazis took every measure to turn the Olympics into a powerful propaganda demonstration. The American magazine "Christian Century" at the time wrote that "the Nazis use the fact of the Olympics for propaganda purposes to convince the German people of the strength of fascism, and foreigners - of its virtue."
The XI Olympic Games brought together a record number of athletes (4066) from 49 countries. Afghanistan, Bermuda, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Liechtenstein, Peru were presented for the first time. For the first time the Olympic Games were televised. Twenty-five large screens were installed in various places in Berlin, and people could freely watch the progress of the Olympic Games. A torch relay and a grandiose parade of participants were held. The winner of the marathon competitions of the 1st Olympiad Spiridon Louis was invited as a guest of honor.
The most numerous team was put up by the hosts - 406 people. They participated in all kinds of programs and decided to take first place in the unofficial team standings at any cost. The program of the Games included sports that are widespread in Germany: handball, rowing and canoeing, competitions in women's gymnastics. An art competition was also organized, in which most of the gold medals (5 out of 9) were awarded to German participants. All this allowed the German team to take the overall first place in terms of the number of medals won.
Despite the overall success of the German team, the Olympic Games rejected the Nazi racial theory. After all, the Berlin Olympics, according to the Nazis, was supposed to be a demonstration of the overwhelming superiority of athletes of Aryan origin. But these plans were not destined to come true. On the US track and field team, ten blacks placed six first, three second, and two third. The famous Negro athlete, the great sprinter of all time, Jesse Owens, was recognized as the hero of the 1936 Games, and the XI Olympic Games are called the “Jesse Owens Olympics”. The capital of Nazi Germany was forced to give the laurels of the best athlete in the world to a black athlete.
Jesse Owens has been legendary since he competed. Because, perhaps, it was not in history athletics no one who could compare to him. At the Olympics in Berlin, he won four gold medals, and this is considered the pinnacle of his sports career.
But before that, Jesse had one more day that brought him world fame. Within 45 minutes on May 25, 1935, speaking at competitions in the town of Ann Arbor (Michigan), Owens set five world records and repeated another record. Events unfolded as follows: 15 hours 15 minutes - Owens repeats the world's highest achievement in running for 100 yards - 9.4 seconds; 15 hours 25 minutes - in his first and only attempt at long jump competitions, he flies 8 m 13 cm; 15 hours 45 minutes - 20.3 sec. at a distance of 220 yards in a straight line, and in the course of the race, Owens also sets a record for 200 m; 16 hours - 22.6 sec. for 220 yards with hurdles, plus, again, is recorded in his asset and a record at a two-hundred-meter distance. And all this in 45 minutes! The world has never seen anything like it!
When the tenth child, James Cleveland Owens, was born in Cleveland, Alabama, into a large Negro family, nothing seemed to indicate that he would become a great athlete. IN early childhood the boy did not stand out in any way, except, perhaps, for impeccable muscles and amazing self-control. At the age of fourteen at school, completely unaware of light engineering athletics, he ran 220 yards in 22.9 seconds. It was an amazing result for a beginner, and coach Charles Riley even decided that his stopwatch had gone bad. When James was fifteen years old, he jumped 185 centimeters high and 680 centimeters long. But his athletic affections were not limited to athletics. He played football and baseball well, was the captain of the school basketball team. When success in sports came, offers began to come from various universities: everyone wanted to get a talented athlete. In the fall of 1933, Owens entered Ohio State University.
Owens arrived in Berlin already in a halo of fame and, naturally, aroused particular interest. Four times he went to the start of the 100-meter race in Berlin and was always the first.
On Sunday, preliminary races were held. Jesse repeated the world record of 10.3 seconds. In the quarterfinals, he ran the 100m in 10.2 seconds with a tailwind. On Monday, the final was won. Tuesday morning preliminary competition in the 200m and long jump. Owens, as if in passing, wins two Olympic records.
In the evening of the same day, Hitler appears on the podium. He hopes to see the handsome blond Lutz Long, a German track and field athlete on the top step of the podium, whose long jump fight with Owens was very close. In the last, fifth attempt, Long makes a magnificent jump - 7 meters 87 centimeters. The Olympic record set by Owens this morning is broken by 4 centimeters. To thunderous applause, Long stretches out and raises his hand in a Nazi salute to the Fuhrer. But after that, Owens jumps. Takeoff run and fantastic result- 8 meters 6 centimeters! New Olympic record! A thunder of applause shakes the stadium.
Wednesday is the 200m final. No one doubted the victory of Jesse Owens. And before the start, he goes to shake hands with his opponents and in a good way wish them happiness. And again, the audience sees this cat's jump, a swift throw forward, after which it seems that his opponents are standing still. The result is 20.7 seconds. New Olympic record.
And on Sunday, in the 4 x 100m relay final, Jesse earned his fourth gold medal, setting a new world record with his teammates of 39.8 seconds, which was broken only twenty years later. The Fuhrer left the stadium in annoyance when he saw that the Negro athlete had won a fourth gold medal - more than all the German athletes combined.
In August 1936, there was not a person in Berlin who did not know this name. The Germans pronounced it with playful delight, not Owens, but Oh, Wens!, not Jessie, but Wessie. The fair-haired Aryan boys tremblingly handed him papers for autographs and followed him on his heels. His embarrassed smile, his gentlemanly attitude towards his rivals conquered the Berliners.
If touch overall results in track and field, the US athletes won by a clear margin. American team received 14 gold medals, and the German only 5. All short running disciplines the Americans won, and the long (3000 with obstacles, 5000 and 10000 meters) Finnish athletes. The winner of the marathon was the Japanese athlete Kitei Son (actually it was the Korean athlete Son Ki-chang (Sohn Kee-chung). In Berlin, he was forced to compete using a Japanese name, since Korea was occupied by Japan). Another very prestigious Golden medal along with the world and Olympic record in the decathlon went to the American Glenn Maurice.
All 5 gold medals of German athletes in athletics were brought by throwers. In men, they won the shot put (Hans Welke), javelin (Gerhard Steck) and hammer throw (Karl Hein) competitions. Among women Olympic champion became Gisela Mauermeier in the discus throw and Tilly Fleischer in the javelin throw. To win, they needed to finish the competition with Olympic records.
In his book "Mein Kampf" Hitler gave a clear advantage to boxing: "No other sport is able to develop aggressiveness, speed of decision and strengthen the body, making it strong and agile." However, in Berlin, German boxers only twice climbed the podium.
But in rowing, 5 out of 7 gold medals were won by German athletes. The Germans lost to the US team in the eight race, winning only bronze in it. Another misfire of the German rowers happened at the double sculls competition. Englishmen Jack Beresford and Leslie Southwood excelled there. The German one got silver here. They had a clear advantage in equestrian sports and in modern pentathlon.
Three gold medals cycling were on the account of the Frenchman Robert Charpentier - for the 100 km road race in the individual and team championships, as well as for winning the team pursuit race at a distance of 4000 m.
In fencing, the medals were shared between the teams of Hungary and Italy. The Italians won both individual and team competitions in foil and sword fencing, and the Hungarian team and its representative Andrew Kabos became champions in saber fencing. The hero of the fencing tournament was the Italian athlete G. Gaudini, who received two gold medals for victories in personal and team competition fencers and as a member of the saber team became a silver medalist. This athlete successfully performed at the 1928 Olympics - gold and bronze medals, and 1932 - three silver and bronze medals, in the period from 1929 to 1938 he became the world champion in foil fencing 10 times, of which twice - in personal superiority.
But the Hungarian team won the water polo competition in a bitter struggle with the German team. Imagine what emotions were in the stands and in the pool.
Jumping into the water among both men and women was won by the Americans. They won five medals out of six, losing only one bronze medal in high jumps. The women's ski jump was won by 13-year-old Majorie Gestring. She became the youngest Olympic champion.
The Swedish wrestler Ivar Johansson - the winner of the 1932 Olympics in two types of wrestling - won the championship in the classical style in Berlin. Estonian heavyweight Kristian Palusalu won two gold medals, he won the tournament in Greco-Roman wrestling and wrestling tournament.
The Indian field hockey team became champions at the third Olympic Games in a row (1928,1932 and 1936). In its composition, Richard Allen and Dhyan Chang (1906-1979) became three-time Olympic champions. After the latter's death in 1980, India Post commemorated his outstanding achievement with the issuance of a postage stamp.
Despite the high sports results and the wide participation of athletes, the XI Olympic Games were held in a difficult atmosphere. This fact is recognized by the IOC. His bulletin, dedicated to the 60th anniversary of the Olympic movement, says: "The strong spirit of militarism and Nazism dominated these Games." · The political content of the 1936 Games set a precedent for the Cold War Games of the Olympiad, which did much to achieve the same goal: the political differences between East and West made the Games of the 1952-1988 series of Olympiads a kind of platform for demonstrating the superiority of "their "systems and political ambitions.
Garmisch-Partenkirchen (Germany)
The last pre-war White Games are considered to be successful from an organizational point of view and controversial from a political point of view.
In 1936, both the Summer and Winter Olympics were hosted by Hitler's Nazi regime, which used sports forums to promote their ideas. The International Olympic Committee resisted the onslaught of the Nazis sluggishly, and if history Summer Games in Berlin is still accompanied by a scandalous trail, the action at the Bavarian resort in Garmisch-Partenkirchen was extremely successful for the hosts. Collaboration with Hitler in the 1930s is a disgrace to the reputation of the Olympic movement, so chronicles usually focus on the sporting aspects of the 1936 White Games and say little about the atmosphere around the competition.
| W | WITH | B | Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Norway | 7 | 5 | 3 | 15 |
| 2 | Germany | 3 | 3 | 0 | 6 |
| 3 | Sweden | 2 | 2 | 3 | 7 |
| 4 | Finland | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 |
| 5 | Switzerland | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
Venue: Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany
February 6 - 16, 1936
Number of participating countries - 28
Number of athletes participating - 668 (80 women, 588 men)
Medal sets - 17
Winner overall standings— Norway
The three main characters of the Games according to "SE"
Ivar Ballangrud (Norway),
skating
James Foster (UK)
hockey
Franz Pfnür (Germany),
skiing
THE JEWISH QUESTION
Germany received the Olympics (then the summer and winter Games were distributed in one bottle) back in 1931, during the Weimar Republic, and this decision of the IOC at first did not carry serious risks. But ever since 1933, when Hitler became Chancellor and the Nazis began to seize power, the Olympic bosses had plenty of opportunities to stop and not get involved in a project that was getting stinkier every day.
However, IOC President Henri de Baillet-Latour was satisfied with only written guarantees from the German authorities, who promised to protect the Olympics from propaganda of a "political, racial, national and religious nature." And the founder of the Olympic movement, Pierre de Coubertin, according to some reports, generally spoke of the German organizing committee extremely favorably, protecting him from attacks with his authority.
When, in 1935, one of the British journalists photographed the announcement "Jews do not belong here" on the street of Garmisch-Partenkirchen and this picture was circulated in newspapers around the world, a scandal erupted. Some sports figures spoke of a boycott of the Games, but Baye-Latour quickly agreed with the Germans that all anti-Semitic graffiti would be removed for the duration of the Olympics. In addition, the German national ice hockey team defiantly included a player of Jewish origin, Rudolf Bahl, in its roster. Shortly before the 1936 Games, he emigrated to France, but the Germans persuaded him to return and then used this precedent to create the illusion among foreigners that there was no persecution of Jews in the Third Reich. Although, just in case, foreign photographers were forbidden to work at the Olympics.
The idea of a boycott was blown away. Only individual athletes refused to travel to the Winter Games, among the most famous are skaters - American Jack Shea (champion of Lake Placid-1932) and Norwegian Bernt Eversen (champion of St. Moritz-1928), as well as French figure skaters Andre and Pierre Brunet (two-time Olympic champions). And only Shi motivated his decision by the "Jewish question." Brunet simply ended his amateur career, and Eversen, along with another former Norwegian Olympian, Haakon Pedersen, chose to compete in Winter Olympics workers, held in February 1936 in Oslo and brought together proletarians from Norway, Finland, Sweden and the Soviet Union.
THE FUHRER FACTOR
NORWEGIANS ARE BACK
Debut in Olympic program Alpine skiing is another historic event in Garmisch-Partenkirchen-1936. True, he was overshadowed by the scandal associated with the exclusion from the Games of instructors of mountain resorts, who for some reason were recorded as professionals. In protest, the Olympics were boycotted by the strongest ski teams of Switzerland and Austria at that time. However, some of the Austrians still performed at the Olympics under the German flag, and one of them - Gustav Lanschner - even won a silver medal.
But the successes of the hosts on the mountain slopes faded before the feat of figure skater Ernst Baier, who took second place in the singles and became the first in the pairs competition in a duet with 15-year-old Maxi Herber. At the same time, Bayer was twice as old as his partner.
In the absence of Jack Shea, Bernt Eversen, as well as the strong Soviet skater Yakov Melnikov (winner of the working Olympics in Oslo), the Norwegian Ivar Ballangrud knew no equal on the ice track of the 1936 Olympics, adding four Garmisch awards to the three medals of St. Moritz and Lake Placid -Partenkirchen - three gold and one silver. The successes of Ballangrud and 10 more medals earned by Norwegians in cross-country skiing, ski jumping and biathlon allowed the founders winter sports it is easy to regain the first place in the team standings, lost four years earlier in Lake Placid.
And the main sporting sensation of the last pre-war winter Games was brought by a hockey tournament, which was suddenly won by the British team. The architect of this success was Barney Ahern, Secretary General of the British Hockey Federation, who on the eve of the Olympics managed to get a list of all Canadian amateur players born in England and Scotland. Some of them agreed to represent in Garmisch-Partenkirchen their historical homeland, which they left as children. Fortunately, all the inhabitants of Canada were de jure subjects of the English crown. As a result, a more than combat-ready team came out against the Maple Leaves, who came for another easy victory, in which almost all hockey players studied hockey in Canada.
The decisive match was the second round, in which Great Britain beat Canada with a score of 2: 1 - Edgar Brenchley scored the decisive goal two minutes before the end of the meeting. According to the regulations, the result of this fight was taken into account in the final round, which for some reason the Maple Leaves did not know about. The US team had a chance to take gold from the British, but even three overtimes did not help the Americans to break through the goalkeeper of the islanders James Foster (a native of Glasgow missed only three goals in seven matches of the Olympic tournament!). The States had one last chance in the match with Canada, but the Maple Leaves did not want to give up the Olympic title to their neighbors, sending the British werewolves to the first place. This was the last title in the history of the UK hockey team - after the war, this country will finally disappear from the world elite.
Three weeks after the end of the Olympics in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, German troops will enter the Rhine demilitarized zone, starting the slide of the world into World War II. More than ten participants in the 1936 Winter Games from the national teams of Germany and Finland will die in a few years on the Eastern Front - mainly in the territory of the Soviet Union and Poland.
Oleg SHAMONAYEV
NUMBERS AND FACTS
At the IV Winter Olympic Games, 6 out of 28 participating countries were debutants - Australia, Bulgaria, Greece, Spain, Liechtenstein and Turkey. Thus, of the five Olympic continents, only Africa was not represented by athletes: 24 countries participated from Europe, 2 from America, 1 each from Asia and Australia with Oceania.
After missing the 1932 Games, Holland, Latvia, Estonia and Yugoslavia again took part in the competition.
17 sets of awards were played in 8 sports. For the first time, competitions were held at the games skiing: for men and women, medals were played in combination - downhill and slalom. And in the program cross-country skiing 4x10 km relay was added.
Finland won the first Olympic ski relay. The Norwegians came second, the Swedes rounded out the top three. The most interesting was the struggle for last step. The Norwegians were ahead of the Finns by more than a minute. However, the Finnish skier Kalle Jalkanen closed the gap with incredible effort, and then overtook the Norwegian Bjarne Iversen. As a result, Jalkanen was the first hero of the White Olympiads, in whose honor a postage stamp was issued.
The hero of the Olympics was the skater Ivar Ballangrud, who won gold at distances of 500, 5000 and 10,000 m and silver at 1500 m.
Norwegian Laila Shaw-Nielsen, being the current world record holder in speed skating at distances of 500, 1000, 1500, 3000 and 5000 m, could not take part in this form - women's disciplines were not yet included in the program of the Games. Then she took part in ski competitions and won bronze.
Norwegian Sonya Henie won the third consecutive Olympic Games in the women's figure skating. Shortly after the Games, she left for American professional ballet on ice.
Hockey competitions brought together a record number of teams for the Olympics - 15. Moreover, the teams of Italy, Japan and Latvia played at Winter Games first. Due to the large number of participants, the competition was decided to be held in three stages.
IN hockey tournament defeat on preliminary stage Canada from Great Britain and the USA from Italy (both - 1: 2) became the first losses of North Americans from European teams in the history of the World Championships and the Olympic Games.
The head coach of the UK team was the future president of the International Ice Hockey Federation (from 1957 to 1975), John Ahern.
Hitler's state policy towards the Jews almost put an end to the Games in Germany, but the Fuhrer decided that a demonstration of the power and fortitude of the Aryans would be good propaganda for his ideas. Adolf implicitly believed in the superiority of his athletes and allocated 20 million Reichsmarks to host the Olympics.
The world community has serious doubts about the appropriateness of competitions of this level in Germany. They argued that the very idea of the Olympic Movement denies any restrictions on the participation of athletes on religious or racial grounds. But many athletes and politicians did not support the boycott.
In 1934, IOC officials visited Berlin, which, however, was thoroughly "cleaned" before this visit, removing all signs of anti-Semitism. The commission also talked to athletes of Jewish origin, who convinced the inspectors of their freedom. Although the IOC issued a positive verdict, a lot of athletes did not go to these Games.
Numerous guests who visited Berlin during the Olympics did not notice the manifestations of German anti-Semitism, so carefully Hitler hid all posters, leaflets, brochures of anti-Jewish content. There was even one athlete of Jewish origin in the Aryan team - fencing champion Helena Mayer.
The people of Berlin were hospitable towards foreign Olympic athletes. The city was decorated with Nazi symbols, and numerous military men were hidden from prying eyes. Representatives of the world press wrote rave reviews about the organization of the Games in Berlin. Even the most suspicious and insightful could not discern the whole truth, and yet at that time in one of the suburbs of the German capital the Oranienburg concentration camp was filling up.
The opening ceremony of the Olympics was pompous and on an unprecedented scale. The Fuhrer did his best and threw dust in the eyes of numerous guests of the capital. He personally released 20,000 snow-white doves at the stadium. A huge zeppelin was circling in the sky with Olympic flag guns fired deafeningly. Athletes from 49 states marched in front of the stunned and joyful spectators.
Germany had the largest team - 348 athletes, 312 people put up the USA. Soviet Union did not participate in these Games.
The results of the XI Olympiad pleased Hitler. The German athletes got 33 gold, leaving the rest of the athletes far behind. The Fuhrer received confirmation of the "superiority" of the Aryans. But the Jewish fencer also succeeded and took second place, other athletes of Semitic origin won medals and performed successfully. This conflicted with Hitler's ideas and was a tangible fly in the ointment that spoiled his joy.
Shaken Nazi dogmas and the undoubted success of a black athlete from the United States - a specialist in running and jumping Jess Owens. The American team won 56 medals, and 14 of them were won by African Americans. Jess took three gold medals of the Berlin Olympics and became her real hero.
Hitler refused to congratulate Owens or any other dark-skinned athlete. The successes of this athlete were hushed up in the German press, only the Aryans were praised there. It is impossible to deny the success of the German Olympians - they were amazing!
Time spending: 2 - 9 August 1936
Number of disciplines: 29
Number of countries: 43
Number of athletes: 776
men: 678
women: 98
The youngest member: Ko Nakamura-Yoshino (Japan, age: 16, 104 days)
Oldest Member: Percy Wyer (Canada, age: 52, 199 days)
Medal-winning countries: USA (25)
Athletes with medals: Jesse Owens USA (4)
The 1936 Olympics was a huge success for the audience: about 4 million fans came to it. Radio reporters from 41 countries worked in the German capital.
The opening of the Olympics was broadcast live on television for the first time, a full-length documentary by Leni Riefenstahl "Olympia" was shot.
Every day a newsletter was issued and received by 3,690 newspapers and magazines on different continents. Another flight across the Atlantic by a German airship took place a day later to deliver photographs of the closing of the Olympic Games to the United States.
The opening ceremony of the Games continued the tradition of lighting the Olympic flame since 1928, and for the first time the flame was brought from Olympia by runners passing the torch like a baton. This marked the beginning of the tradition of the Olympic Torch Relay.
The games set a new record for the number of participants.
For the first time in the unofficial team standings, German athletes took the lead with 33 gold medals, 26 silver, 30 bronze.
Despite the success of the German team, the Olympics crossed out Nazi racial theories. For example, in athletics competitions, six first, three second and two third places were taken by black Americans, and one of them was declared the best athlete of the Games - the great American sprinter of all time Jesse Owens: he won the 100 and 200 m races, the third " gold" received in the 4x100 m relay, and the fourth in the long jump (he was the first in the history of athletics to cross the line of 8 m - 8 m 06 cm).
The Berlin Games were called "Jesse Owens Olympics".
In the high jump, the Americans again became winners. The first two places were taken by long-legged black athletes Cornelius Johnson and Dave Albritton. Johnson jumped 2.03 m, setting an Olympic record, Albritton was only 3 cm behind him. American Delos Thurber received the bronze medal.
The pole vault competitions were exciting. They lasted over 12 hours. Only late in the evening, under the spotlights (which was then a novelty), the name of the winner and the new Olympic record holder was finally announced: the American Earl Meadows jumped 4 m 35 cm. Suhei Nishida and Suoe Oe from Japan shared the second and third places with an equal result - 4 m 25 cm. The revival at the stadium caused the announcement that the athletes decided to share the medals, sawing them into halves.
