People's Olympiad

The People's Olympics (Catalan: "Olimpíada Popular", Spanish "Olimpiada Popular") was planned for Barcelona, Spain as a protest event againstthe 1936 Summer Olympics planned for Berlin during the period of Nazi rule. The newly elected left-wing Popular Front government in Spain decided to boycott the Berlin Olympics and host its own games following its election in February 1936. Invitations were made to the nations of the world and it was planned to use the hotels built for the 1929 World's Fair as an Olympic Village. The games were scheduled to be held from July 19 to July 26 and would have therefore ended six days prior to the start of the Berlin games. In addition to the usual sporting events, the Barcelona games would have also featured chess, folkdancing, music and theatre.

A total of 6,000 athletes from 22 nations registered for the games. The largest contingents of athletes came from the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and French Algeria. There were also German and Italian teams made up of exiles from those countries.

Many of the athletes were sent by trade unions, workers' clubs and associations, socialist and communist parties and left-wing groups rather than by state-sponsored committees.

With the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War just as the games were to begin, the alternate games were hastily cancelled. Some athletes never made it to Barcelona as the borders had been closed while those who were in the city for the beginning of the games had to make a hasty exit. However, at least 200 of the athletes remained in Spain and joined workers' militias that were organized to defend the Spanish Republic. [Antony Beevor. "The Battle for Spain: The Spanish Civil War 1936-1939". New York: Penguin Books, 2006. p. 67 ]

In Popular Culture

The Japanese musical play "Never Say Goodbye", produced by Cosmos Troupe of Takarazuka Revue took reference of the event and those athletes who stayed behind to help the Civil War.

The play "The Man That Lovelock Couldn't Beat" by New Zealand writer Dean Parker featured a fictitious character - Tommy Morehu -who travelled to Spain for the People's Olympiad, and was later killed in the Spanish Civil War.

References

Bibliography

* Chapter Six of "Berlin Games – How Hitler Stole the Olympic Dream", by Guy Walters ISBN 0-7195-6783-1 (UK) 0060874120 (USA)