Peace, friendship, equality, respect, solidarity etc, are some of the shibboleths than have marked the Olympic movement. Ironically, the leaders of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) have displayed behavior that is diametrically opposed to the Olympic ideals.
The revered founder of the Olympic movement was ironically a believer in authoritarianism and the role of physical education to promote colonial interests overseas. He was also an enthusiastic supporter of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi ideology.
The Serbian philosopher and former Olympic basketball star Ljubodrag Duci Simonović has exposed his nefarious politics in the book The Olympic Deceits of the Divine Baron – Pierre de Coubertin.
When western progressives were cautioning against the dangerous tendencies of the Third Reich, Coubertin, in his actions and speeches, vociferously backed the 1936 Berlin Olympics and derided its opponents.
As Theodor Lewald, president, Organizing Committee of the Olympics, wrote: “He (Coubertin) understood and enthusiastically saluted the development of the new Germany under her Great Führer.”
Coubertin even wanted to locate the International Olympic Institute in Nazi Germany which would store all his papers and other Olympic artefacts. In gratitude, the Nazis recommended him for the Nobel Peace Prize. Coubertin accepted the nomination. The award however deservingly went to the imprisoned anti-Nazi activist Carl von Ossietzky.
Hitler even gratuitously sanctioned a whopping 10,000 Reich marks to help a broke Coubertin tide over his financial difficulties. It was gratefully accepted.
Another great admirer of Hitler and his Mein Kampf was Avery Brundage, a future president of the IOC. As president of the American Olympic Committee, this racist, anti-communist and supporter of apartheid South Africa, railroaded the Americans into the Berlin Olympics despite staunch opposition from his countrymen.
Coubertin’s successor as IOC president, Belgian Count Henri de Baillet-Latour, also went along with the Nazis. He perhaps supported the idea of Germany becoming the permanent host of the Olympic Games post 1940 though his ardour may have cooled down after Belgium was invaded by the Nazis. Another IOC president, Sigfrid Edstorm (Sweden), was a rabid anti-Semite.
Shockingly, after World War II, several fascists continued in their Olympic posts, including Karl Ritter von Halt, Adolf Friedrich Mecklenberg (both Germany),Count Paolo Thaon di Revel, General Giorgio Vaccaro (both Italy) etc. It prompts the question whether membership of the IOC was facilitated by their being fascists or despite it!
The most diehard fascist was undoubtedly the IOC’s late president Juan Antonio Samaranch, a protégé of Brundage, The Spaniard held posts during General Franco’s repressive regime, including Sports Minister. His son continues in the IOC.
It is no surprise that a Samaranch protégé, Thomas Bach (Germany), is now the current IOC president. This closed IOC family, comprising royalty, military ruling families, corporate honchos and other capitalist and elite class representatives, shows that the IOC remains rooted to its ugly past.
