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Rio Olympics: Unsung sprinters’ dreams died to keep Hitler happy

Jmedia Manager
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The headline in New York’s Kingston Daily Freeman was unambiguous: “Named to carry baton in Olympic sprint relay”. The date was July 24, 1936 and it accompanied photographs of the four athletes selected to represent the United States in the 4×100 relay at the Berlin Olympics.What transpired instead was shameful capitulation to racism as practised by Nazi Germany. While the incident is a mere footnote of Olympic history — albeit one which impacted the legendary Jesse Owens — it saw the US buckle under Nazi pressure to keep Jews out of the Games, or at least off the winners’ dais.

The backdrop is pre-war Germany. Hitler is flexing his muscles, the Nuremberg Laws restricting the civil rights of German Jews have been passed and the Sachsenhausen concentration camp is being built outside Berlin. Hitler appoints himself patron of the Games, notices condemning Jews are removed and a 110,000-seat stadium is erected by Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels to showcase German supremacy.

Over in England, France and the US debate rages over whether the Games should be boycotted, African-American and Jewish groups in particular protesting Nazi racial policy.

Read the story by Vic Alhadeff In The Australian (sports section).