With the opening of Tokyo’s New National Stadium in December, the final stage of the countdown to the beginning of the XXXII Olympic Games on 24 July 2020 has started. Never has a city looked “as well prepared for the Games as Tokyo at this point in time”, said IOC President Thomas Bach after the last meeting of the IOC Executive Committee.
Some photos offer a little taste of this event. They are also intended as an invitation to the readers of the Journal to participate in future issues with their own historical contributions in preparation for these Games.
Anyone in search of memories or food for thought should take a look at Kon Ichikawa’s film about the 1964 Games, which set the standard for years to come. David Wallechinsky’s thoughts on this work and more can be read in the third part of his series on Olympic films.
Our thoughts are rushing ahead. Paris is already looking forward to the Olympiad after the next, in 2024, and it is by no means too early to get acquainted with French Olympic history. Jean Durry, the ISOH Lifetime Award winner in 2017, researched the Games of 1900 that the committee headed by Vicomte de La Rochefoucauld wanted to organise. Their plan was thwarted when the Exposition’s commissioner announced international sports competitions. The result is well known: the Games became an appendage, in which the term “Olympic” was out of place.
In this issue, Éric Monnin reports for the French “Generation of 2024”. He brings new insight to an ancient topic: the sanctuary of the Olympics, bridging religious ceremony and athletic competition.
It’s been three quarters of a century since an attempt was made to assassinate Adolf Hitler. Had it succeeded, humanity would surely have been spared much suffering. The individual who saved Hitler’s life was Olympic equestrian champion Heinz Brandt, who unwittingly pushed Count Stauffenberg’s bomb further under the conference table. As a result of the explosion, Brandt himself was killed. Was he a perpetrator, a victim, or even a resistance fighter, as some claim? This issue’s article tries to provide an answer.
Another anniversary commemorated is the birth of Tom Kiely, born 150 years ago in Ireland. As ISOH member Tom Hunt writes, he won more than 1,500 prizes over 15 years, the most notable of which was the gold medal for the 1904 all-around competitions in St. Louis.
Curiously, Britain was represented in the athletics by three Irishmen one of whom was Kiely. The question is not new: was he a British gold medallist or an Irish Olympic champion, even though his country was not an independent state at the time?
In addition, Philip Barker reports from the Universiade in Naples and considers the history of the World student championships. Andreas Höfer, director of the German Sport & Olympic Museum, examines amateur photographs from the 1936 Games in Berlin. We also remember Olympic medal winners who have died and there is the usual review of new publications.
– Volker Kluge, Editor
Members of ISOH may view the digital version of this issue by clicking here.
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