Olympic Games Official Report Los Angeles 1932 Part 1
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Official Report Published by the X TH OLYMPIADE COMMITTEE OF THE GAMES OF LOS ANGELES, U. S. A. 1932, LTD. COPYRIGHT, 1933 XTH OLYMPIADE COMMITTEE OF THE GAMES OF LOS ANGELES, U. S. A. 1932, LTD. Printed by WOLFER PRINTING COMPANY, INC. Los Angeles, California Printed and Bound in U. S. A. Dedicated To the Principles and Ideals of Modern Olympism Foreword HE ORGANIZING COMMITTEE of the Games of the Xt h TOlympiad fulfils its final obligation by presenting this Official Report of its organization of the Games. To allow an event of such perma- nent interest to remain only in the memories of participants and observers would be to impair the achievement; and it is therefore wise that the prepa- ration and circulation of a permanent record are prescribed as part of the work of the Committee in connection with the Games. The Committee takes pleasure in the performance of this duty, and in presenting the result to the International Olympic Committee, the Nationa1 Olympic Committees, the International Sports Federations, and to the State of California, whose people bonded themselves for the support of the Games. To all these the Committee expresses its gratitude for help- ful co-operation. In order that the combined magnitude and beauty of the Games of 1932 may be faithfully represented, it is necessary that the Report be com- prehensive and pictorial; and in order that the experience gained in the organization of these Games may be of value hereafter, it is necessary that the Report be particular. It has been the purpose of the Committee to omit nothing which is pertinent and to add nothing which is superfluous. It ventures the hope that the Report may be found to approach as nearly as possible the ideal thus proposed. Xth Olympiade Committee of the Games of Los Angeles, U.S.A. 1932, Ltd. Honorable Herbert Hoover PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA HONORARY PRESIDENT OF THE GAMES OF THE XTH OLYMPIAD Founding of the Modern Games HE revival of the modern Olympic Games, the first of which were celebrated in T Athens, in 1896, was due to the idealism and enterprise of Baron Pierre de Coubertin, who forsook a political career to devote his energies to the introduction of sport into the educational life of the youth of his native country, France. To this end, he traveled widely in America and England to study the organization of sport and its importance in the activities of the people of those countries. It was in 1892 that he first propounded his desire for a new era in international sport. At a meeting that year of the Union des Sports Athletiques in France, he made his first public announcement as follows : Let us export our oarsmen, our runners, our fencers, into other lands. That is the true Free Trade of the future; and the day it is introduced into Europe the cause of Peace will have received a new and strong ally. It inspires me to touch upon the further step I now propose, and in it I shall ask that the help you have given me hitherto you will extend again, so that together we may attempt to realize, upon a basis suitable to the conditions of our modern life, the splendid and beneficent task of reviving the Olympic Games. For a time there was no perceptible result, but two years later, a circular to all Athletic Associations, pointing out the necessity to preserve in sport those characteristics of nobility and chivalry which have distinguished it in the past, so that it may continue to play the same part in the education of the peoples of today as it played so admirably in the days of Ancient Greece, brought together in the Amphitheatre of the Sorbonne, in June, 1894, enough delegates from various countries to organize the International Olympic Committee. At this meeting Baron de Coubertin proposed that the first Games of the new era be celebrated in Athens, which met with the unanimous approval of the newly-formed Committee, thus launching the series of Modern Olympiads the Xth of which was celebrated in Los Angeles. Baron Pierre de Coubertin FOUNDER AND LIFE HONORARY PRESIDENT OF THE OLYMPIC GAMES By Baron Pierre de Coubertin, Founder of Modern Olympism " HE main issue in life is not the victory but the fight ; the essential is not to have won but to have fought well. To spread these pre- cepts is to pave the way for a more valiant humanity, stronger, and con- sequently more scrupulous and more generous. These words extend across whole domains and form the basis of a healthy and happy philosophy. The Olympic movement gives the world an ideal which reckons with the reality of life, and includes a possibility to guide this reality toward the great Olympic Idea : Joie des muscles, culte de la beauté, travail pour le service de la famille et de la société ; ces trois éléments unis en un faisceau indissoluble. May joy and good fellowship reign, and in this manner, may the Olympic Torch pursue its way through the ages, increasing friendly under- standing among nations, for the good of a humanity always more enthu- siastic, more courageous and more pure. Count de Baillet-Latour PRESIDENT OF THE INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE Count de Baillet-Latour Organizer of the Modern Games PROMISED at Prague to discuss this matter and I keep my word so that hence- I forth no one can ignore it.” The speaker was Count de Baillet-Latour, and the meeting referred to was the Olympic Congress held in Prague in 1925, at which time he was elected President of the International Olympic Committee. The quoted words constitute the opening paragraph of a remarkable document by the hand and over the signature of Count de Baillet-Latour, a pronouncement which makes its author and modern Olympic history inseparable, because it marked the beginning of the first orderly arrangement and organic control of the Olympic movement throughout the world. In a few hundred words, simply phrased but thoughtfully constructed, embracing all of the fundamentals, this document has provided the foundation for what may properly be termed the Constitution and Laws governing modern Olympism. By its tenets are the Olympic Games organized and administered . Under its sound principles will the ideals and purposes of the Games be fostered and protected for the future. If the written word is fated to survive the human frailties, then this document and the Games will live as do the stones of the mountains. Count de Baillet-Latour, President of the International Olympic Committee, carries a great weight of responsibility and personifies the self-sacrifice and unselfish devotion to the Olympic principles manifested by all members of the International Olympic Committee, the many National Olympic Committees , the International Sports Federations and the Organizing Committees, on the administrative side of the Olympic movement, and of the athletes and other entrants on the competitive side of the movement. The Olympic Structure HE INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTE E is the central world-governing T body to the extent that it "directs the rules of the Games, draws up the general programme and decides the qualifications of the amateur athletes chosen to take part ; settles the place where each Olympiad is to be celebrated, its Executive Committee constituting the Jury of Honor during the Games. " In each Olympic country there is a National Olympic Committee which joins the Sports Associations of that country in qualifying its competitors for the Games. These committees enforce the decisions of the Jury of Honor and organize the financing, transport, housing, and general management of the teams. The National Olympic Com- mittee of a country also has the responsibility, when the Games are awarded to its country, of providing the facilities and of organizing and managing the Games (except for technical administration) or it may delegate its duties and authorities so to do to a special Organiz- ing Committee, which shall thereupon assume these responsibilities, thus eliminating the National Olympic Committee from such matters. Each of the authorized Olympic sports is governed by an International Federation. These Federations have branches for their sport in all Olympic countries, and they make the rules for their sport (in keeping with the amateur definition as prescribed by the Inter- national Olympic Committee), decide the programme of their sport jointly with the Execu- tive Committee of the International Olympic Committee, control all sports equipment, and administer the technical side of the events, appoint the Ground Judges (officials) and the Judges of Appeal, and deal finally with all complaints. Thus, we have the International Olympic Committee surrounded by the National Olympic Committees and the International Sports Federations, the three groups constituting the self-perpetuating structure of world-wide control of the Olympic movement. These groups meet periodically in what is known as the Olympic Congress to settle questions put in the Agenda by the International Olympic Committee for improvement of the procedures. These Congresses afford the opportunity of hearing from the Organizing Committee of the country in which the Games are being held as to the adequacy of its plans and preparations. The Olympic Congresses, by means of their representatives among the nations, in collaboration with the National Olympic Committees, strive to play their part by urging in every possible way the physical development of youth and the culture of sport, so that respective discipline and the spirit of sportsmanship will lead to peace, unity and happiness among the different groups, as among the different peoples. International Olympic Committee FOUNDER . BARON PIERRE DE COUBERTIN LIFE HONORARY PRESIDENT OF THE OLYMPIC GAMES PRESIDENT .....