The focus of the last Journal was the first Olympic Congress, which on 23 June 1894 decided to revive the Olympic Games. They set up an International Olympic Committee to organise them. Now, 125 years on, the new Olympic House has opened and we offer an introduction of the new building in this issue.
On the occasion of this anniversary, it was natural to consider other milestones of the Olympic Movement. Thomas Lippert and I have therefore written an article about the IOC anniversaries from 1914 to 1969.
However, the focus should not be on the festivities or the officials, but on the athletes. Among the outstanding personalities of the past was the German gymnast and wrestler Carl Schuhmann, who also embodied the prototype of the mature athlete, because despite a ban by his management, he was not prevented from participating in the first Games in Athens. As the most successful participant, he wrote history and on the occasion of his 150th birthday, his story is now being told.
This fits well with the article by Christian Wacker on the imagery of 1896, which he describes as very modern. For antiquity had only an exemplary character for Pierre de Coubertin. In fact, the IOC founder wanted something new, something never done before.
Among the most important sources are the documentary films that were made on the individual Olympic Games. In the second part of his series, David Wallechinsky covers the period from 1948 to 1960, in which colour films were first produced.
There is an intriguing story surrounding the Amsterdam poster. As the IOC were unable to agree on a rights deal with the descendants of the designer, they have used an image from the cover of a Swiss book instead. This was based on the photograph of an Austrian wrestler, who was recreating the pose of a statue by German sculptor Max Kruse in 1879. These revelations come courtesy of Gherardo Bonini.
The contribution of Czech historian Martin Pelc on Hedwig Rosenbaum, who took part in the tennis tournament in Paris in 1900 and went on to become the first female Olympic medallist in Bohemia, proves that everything is still far from being researched. The author chose the title “Mistaken Identities” – a topic that is not uncommon in the history of the Olympics.
In Journal No. 3 of 2018, Tony Sainsbury published an article on the early history of the Paralympics and the origin of the term. Three other authors – Ian Brittain, Bill Mallon and David Davis – have pooled their knowledge in a joint article.
What else is on offer? ISOH mourns the death of Karel Wendl who did much to open up the IOC Archives. The passing of Olympic medallists is noted in our obituary section.
Our long running series on IOC Members has reached episode 30 and for the first time it features those elected after the reforms of 1999.
As always, new publications on Olympic and sports history will be reviewed.
– Volker Kluge, Editor
Members of ISOH may view the digital version of this issue by clicking here.
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