X Olympic Games... July 30 - August 7, 1932, Los Angeles, USA. 17 sports, 125 gold medals. For the second time, the Olympic Games were held on the American continent. In comparison with the previous Games, the number of participating countries and especially the number of participants decreased: 1219 athletes represented 37 countries.

The high level of results was again noted. Set 16 world and 40 Olympic records.

In the unofficial team event, the US athletes achieved success with 111 medals (45 gold) and a total of 677.7 points. For the first time, Italian athletes took second place, winning 37 medals, 239.5 points. Athletes from Germany finished third - 26 medals, 157.5 points.

The 10,000 meter race ended with a brilliant victory for the Polish athlete J. Kusochinsky, who set a new Olympic record. From the first days of the Nazi invasion of Poland in 1939, Janusz Kusochinsky was among the active defenders of his homeland. In the summer of 1940, the outstanding athlete was shot by the Nazis.

The games actually became a pro-fascist demonstration. This fact is recognized by the IOC. Bulletin No. 44 (February 1954), dedicated to the 60th anniversary of Olympic movement, regarding the XI Games, it was said: "A strong spirit of militarism and Nazism prevailed at these Games, which led to sad consequences."

4069 athletes from 49 countries took part in the Games. The program included competitions in 22 sports. 129 gold medals were played. During the competition, 13 world and 41 Olympic records were set.

Germany, having put forward the largest team - 406 people, decided to achieve the team championship at any cost. And she succeeded. Having won 89 medals (33 gold) and 573.2 points, the German team came out on top overall. US athletes have won 56 medals and 403.3 points. Italy is third with 22 medals and 168.1 points.

The true hero of the Games was the American negro Jesse Owen, who won 4 gold medals. He set new Olympic records in running 100 meters - 10.3 seconds, 200 meters - 20.7 seconds, long jump - 8 meters 6 centimeters. Fourth gold medal Owen won the 4X100 meter relay. The team's result - 39.8 seconds - remained a world record for 20 years.

XII Olympic Games... In 1936, in Berlin, the IOC determined the venue for the next Olympic Games. Nominations of 12 cities were discussed. The vote gave preference to Tokyo - 37 votes. Helsinki received 26 votes. The Games were scheduled for September 21 - October 6, 1940. In July 1937, in connection with the expansion of Japan's hostilities against China, protests followed against the holding of the Tokyo Olympics. The Japanese Olympic Committee refused to host the Games. The IOC Congress handed over the rights to host the Helsinki Games. But on January 1, 1940, the Finnish Olympic Committee announced the impossibility of holding the Games in Helsinki due to the outbreak of the Second World War. The XII Olympic Games did not take place.

XIII Olympic Games... They were scheduled to be held in London in 1944, but they did not take place because of the Second World War.

Although the Second World War 1939-1945. interrupted the Olympic cycle The XII and XIII Summer Olympic Games did not take place, they nevertheless received their serial numbers in the chronological table. Initially, Tokyo, the capital of Japan, was chosen as the Olympic capital; the Winter Games were supposed to be held in 1940 in Sapporo. Because of the war, Japan gave up this honor, and on July 16, 1938, the IOC decided to give the 1940 Olympics to the capital of Finland, Helsinki. Military operations unfolded across almost all of Europe, and the Olympic competitions were postponed indefinitely. Nevertheless, the Organizing Committee of the Helsinki Olympics managed to issue medals and badges.

Price 300 (gilded bronze), 200 (silver plated bronze), 150 (bronze)

In honor of the failed Games, it has three options - gold, silver, bronze. They are all made of lightweight metal, which has been appropriately coated. Interestingly, it was decided to issue medals when it became clear that the war would destroy the Olympic plans.

The weight of the medal is 13 grams. Diameter 37 mm.

On the front side there is the Olympic Stadium in Helsinki and the tower. To the left of the tower there is an inscription: XII OLYMPIA HELSINKI 1940 (XII Olympiad, Helsinki). On the obverse of the medal the name of the capital of Finland is given in Finnish, on the reverse - in Swedish.

On the reverse side of the medal there is a nude figure of a runner with a torch in his left hand against the background of the outlines of the globe. The territory of Finland is highlighted on the map with relief. Above, in a semicircle, an inscription: XII OLYMPIA 1940 HELSINGFORS. At the bottom, in a circle, there is a leaf ornament.

The total circulation of medals is 3650 pieces, of which 2312 were made in 1940, and the rest were minted after the war - in 1947. Now the medals have become rarities, it is especially difficult to find a complete set - gold, silver and bronze.

Finland's sports leaders in the late 1940s sometimes awarded medals of the Games of 1940 as memorable souvenirs to the leaders of sports delegations at large international competitions held in Finland. They were supplied with special certificates, which told the history of the creation of medals and indicated the circulation of the issue.

Price 1 - 100, 2 - 100, 3 - 100, 4 - 400

Icon in four different versions, but one plot, is a rectangle of 24? 14 mm. It depicts the Olympic rings, the Olympic flame and indicates the year of the Olympics - 1940. The rarest version is covered with enamel in two colors - the base is white, the Olympic flame is red.

Only a few hundred copies of such badges have been issued: made of silver with enamel, there is a test on its reverse side; the other three types differ from each other in the color of the metal from which they are made - gold, silver and bronze.

For the competition for the best poster 72 Finnish artists presented 106 works. Ilmari Susimetse received the first prize. The poster shows a sculptural image of the famous Finnish runner Paavo Nurmi against the backdrop of the globe, on which Finland and the capital of the Games Helsinki are highlighted. This poster became official for the Games of the XV Olympiad in 1952.

Dec 11, 2014 by vaulter

The Olympic Games in Ancient Greece were a sacred holiday. During their holding, the Greeks declared an ekehiriya - an armistice. All over Greece, hostilities were prohibited, and all the strongest Hellenes gathered in Olympia to participate in competitions. In the twentieth century, the Olympic Games did not have such power and influence on states as they did in ancient times. Therefore, during the First and Second World Wars, the Olympic Games were not held. However, despite the fact that the competition was not held, their account was kept.

In this article we will tell you about what the organizers of the 1916, 1940 and 1944 Games and the IOC managed to do in preparation for the competition.

Olympic Games 1916

In 1916, the next Olympic Games were to be held in Berlin. The German government allocated 300 thousand marks for their implementation. In 1913, the Germans completed the construction of the Olympic Stadium (DeutschesStadion). The organizers prepared sketches of medals intended for awarding the winners and prize-winners of the Games.
Olympic committees of many countries, including Russia, actively prepared their athletes for participation in competitions. Everything changed in 1914.
On June 28, 1914, in the city of Sarajevo, the Serbian terrorist G. Princip killed the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, and thus initiated the process that led to the collapse of not only the Berlin Olympics, but also four empires. During 1914 and 1915, 33 countries of the world were involved in the First World War.

The IOC found itself in an incredibly difficult situation. Most of the IOC members at that time were citizens of countries at war. Germany, in spite of everything, continued to prepare for the Olympic Games and was clearly not going to give anyone the right to host them. Moreover, the Germans demanded that the IOC headquarters be in Berlin during the Olympics. Of course, the IOC did not take such a step. Some IOC members have proposed moving the Olympic Games to another city. New York was considered one of the contenders. But in the end, it was decided: during the war, the Olympic Games should not be held. Nevertheless, in order to emphasize the significance of the Olympic Games, their huge role in affirming the ideals of peace and fair competition, the IOC decided to immortalize the number of the Berlin Olympics in history.

- so declared Pierre de Coubertin. And since then, in any reference book, any article, book devoted to Olympic history, write: "Games of the VI-th Olympiad in Berlin did not take place."

Olympic Games 1940

The XII Summer Olympic Games were to be held from September 21 to October 6, 1940 in the capital of Japan - Tokyo. However, in connection with the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937, the IOC moved the Games to Helsinki, where they were scheduled to be held from July 20 to August 4, 1940. But, unfortunately, on September 1, 1939, the Second World War began. After that, the IOC finally decided to abandon the Olympic Games. Nevertheless, the Organizing Committee of the Games in Helsinki managed to prepare medals and badges. A commemorative medal was also prepared in honor of the Games that failed to be held. It was made in three versions - gold, silver, bronze. The obverse showed the Olympic Stadium in Helsinki and the tower. To the left of the tower was the inscription "XII OLYMPIA HELSINKI 1940". On the obverse of the medal, the name of the capital of Finland was in Finnish, on the reverse - in Swedish.
The reverse side of the medal showed a nude figure of a runner holding a torch in his left hand against the background of the outlines of the globe. The territory of Finland is highlighted on the map with relief. At the top, in a semicircle, was the inscription "XII OLYMPIA 1940 HELSINGFORS". At the bottom, in a circle, there is a leaf ornament.

The total circulation of medals was 3650 pieces, of which 2312 were manufactured in 1940, and the rest were released in 1947.
Finnish sports officials in the late 1940s sometimes medals of the failed Games of 1940 were handed over as memorable souvenirs to the leaders of sports delegations at major international competitions that were held in Finland. They were supplied with special certificates, which told the history of the creation of medals and indicated the circulation.

72 Finnish artists participated in the competition for the best poster about the Games. Ilmari Susimetse received the first prize. The poster depicted the famous Finnish track and field athlete Paavo Nurmi in front of the globe, highlighting Finland and the capital of the Games, Helsinki. This poster became the official poster for the 1952 Games of the XV Olympiad. Despite the cancellation of the Games, they, like the VI Olympic Games that did not take place in 1916, were assigned their own serial number.

Olympic Games 1944

In June 1939, at the IOC Session, it was decided that the Games of the XIII Olympiad would be held in London. In addition to the capital of Great Britain, Rome, Detroit, Lausanne, Athens, Budapest, Helsinki and Montreal fought for the right to host the competition.

But, the British could not even get enough of the fact that they would hold the Olympic Games, since World War II began a few months later. Despite the war, the IOC headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, celebrated the 50th anniversary of the founding of the International Olympic Committee on June 17-19, 1944. At the end of the war, the British still got the opportunity to host the Olympic Games and brilliantly organized the 1948 Games.

As a result of two world wars, the world did not see the Olympic Games of 1916, 1940, 1944. Of course, while the cannons are rattling, people are dying, it is not the time to hold a sports festival. I would like very much that in our time countries would stop solving political and economic issues by military means, and “sort out” relations in sports arenas.

Failed Olympic Games - 1940 and 1944. Read more - historical observer Andrey Svetenko.

It would seem that what to say about what was not. But the Olympic tradition is very exacting and punctual - the ordinal numbers of the games that were canceled due to the Second World War remained assigned to them. This alone obliges us to remember, not to forget.

The 1940 Winter Olympics were originally supposed to be held in Japan, in Sapporo. It was supposed to be the first in history winter olympiads games on the Asian continent. But in 1937, two years before the start of the big war, Japan relinquished the right to host the games. The IOC urgently began to look for a replacement. We have decided, as it were, with the already proven Swiss St. Moritz. It seemed that the matter was settled. It was impossible then to find a place quieter, neutral, not preparing for war than Switzerland. However, unexpectedly, technical and financial problems arose between the Swiss National Olympic Committee and the IOC, after which the right to host the games was entrusted to the German Garmisch-Partenkirchen. But on November 25, 1939, when Germany had already unleashed a world war, the IOC officially canceled this appointment.

Summer Games 1940 was also to be held in Japan. This means that on the eve of the war, the liberal international community, it seems, really flirted with potential aggressors, tried to somehow please their political ambitions. The Japanese emperor also refused these games. Then the candidacy of the Finnish capital, Helsinki, surfaced, and it remained in force, oddly enough, even with the outbreak of the war. Only on May 2, 1940, the IOC was forced to admit that the games of the twelfth Summer Olympics will not take place.

The same story happened with the thirteenth games, slated for 1944. It is curious that the date and place of its holding were announced in June 1939. We did it, as they say. The games were to be hosted by London. By the way, he will accept them at the end of the war in 1948. So everything here, one might say, corresponded to the plans. The Winter Games of 1944 were supposed to be held by Italy in Cortina d "Ampezzo. Here, as well as in London, this will happen only in 1956.

But, oddly enough it may seem, in Italy and actually carried out winter Games, even in the conditions of the outbreak of war, - in the Italian Alps at the beginning of 1940. They were attended by Germany, Italy, Norway, not yet captured by the Nazis, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, and other neutral states that remained by that time. There were no countries that were already at war with Nazi Germany. And it is clear that these competitions did not have an internationally recognized status. They were, so to speak, a temporary celebration of the aggressors who unleashed the war, a kind of get-together, in which neutral countries acted as a screen, as a cover.

Yes, unfortunately, the Olympiads of our time could not correspond to the main motto of the ancient Olympiads, when wars were stopped for the sake of games. In the 20th century, everything turned out the opposite.