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Before 1936, the opening ceremonies for the Olympic Games were generally low-key. However, Nazi Germany turned them into a well choreographed event. All Olympic opening ceremonies since then have been influenced by what took place in Berlin in 1936.
Tags:
1936
Summer
Olympics
ceremony
Added: 3rd December 2007
Views: 416
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Posted By: Lava1964 |
 
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By the way, the salute you see from the athletes is the Olympic salute--not the Nazi salute. It has long disappeared from the Olympics.
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Posted by: Sophia on 2007-12-03
Adolf Hitler used the games to show the world a resurgent Nazi Germany. He and other government officials had high hopes German athletes would dominate the games with victories. Meanwhile, Nazi propaganda promoted concepts of Aryan racial superiority and depicted ethnic Africans as inferior.
Jesse Owens, who was an African American track and field athlete participated in the games and achieved international fame by winning four gold medals: one each in the 100 meters, the 200 meters, the long jump, and as part of the 4x100 meter relay team. But Hitler shook hands only with the German victors and then left the stadium. Olympic committee officials then insisted Hitler greet each and every medalist or none at all. Hitler opted for the latter and skipped all further medal presentations.
After returning home an Olympic winner, Owens attended a New York ticker-tape parade in his honor, but had to ride the freight elevator to attend a reception for him at the Waldorf-Astoria.
I'm glad I wasn't around then.
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Very true, Sophia. Much was made about the German press referring to America's black athletes as 'auxiliaries.' When Jesse Owens returned home, New York's mayor (I think it was LaGuardia) said that America has no auxiliaries. I wonder what Jesse Owens thought about that statement when he was riding the freight elevator!
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In case anyone is interested, Germany did dominate the 1936 Summer Olympic Games. The Germans won 89 medals. The Americans were a distant second with 56.
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Posted by: Cathy on 2007-12-03
Too bad they didn't think to do drug testing back then Lava!
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Cathy, I have a sneaking suspicion that Jesse Owens was the last person to win the 100-meters without taking drugs.
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Posted by: Steve on 2007-12-04
It wasn't always the good ole days!
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Those Russian Women in the 70s 80s . Thats when ya needed the drug testing The Canadians were always good in the winter olympics No disrespect Lava but true This summers Olympics look forward to watching some of it Micheal Phelps gonna try to break Mike Spitzs record for gold Medals Gonna be fun to watch
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Canadians actually were not particularly good in the WInter Olympics until recently. We used to kick everyone's behind in hockey until 1952, but we generally weren't very good in anything else.
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