THE OLYMPIAD AND WAR

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22963, 15 February 1938, Page 10

THE OLYMPIAD AND WAR

The British Empire Games Federation has expressed the disinclination of its members to participate in Olympic Games held in any country involved in war, and the British Amateur Association is unanimous against British support for the Olympiad of 1940 if it is to be held in Tokio. These opinions undoubtedly reflect the common British mind on the subject. In the first place the holding of the contests in the country of a belligerent would rule out the possibility of enemy nationals taking part. That would be contrary to the whole spirit of the festival, which proclaims a fraternity in amateur sport. Furthermore, sympathies for one side or the other might intrude to create disharmony—and it is not to be forgotten that in some of the Olympiads of the past national rivalries have shown unpleasant aspects, so much so that it has frequently been said that one of the fasks for the countries which lead in the spirit of sportsmanship is to teach those which have not attained to their level. The Olympiad arranged for 1916 was to have been held in Berlin, but obviously, with so many countries in arms, it had to be abandoned. Two years ago Germany was the venue and the Games were successfully held, but not without preliminary tension due solely to hostility to the Nazi creed. The undergraduate journal of Oxford raised the question whether Germany's organisation of all sport on a basis of militancy did not justify foreign aloofness in loyalty to the fundamental purpose of Olympia. America had to explain that the reason its team did not dip the flag to Herr Hitler during the march past was that an army regulation forbade dipping the flag. And Dr. Goebbels found it necessary to state at the opening that Berlin was not employing the Olympiad as political propaganda. These facts indicate the kind of difficulties that can arise even if there is no war, and point to the wisdom of never holding the Games in any-country at-war*-