Welcome to the issue Volker Kluge Editor It was a stroke of luck that this year’s ISOH Meeting took still unequalled today. Among the ice­skaters, he was the place in Lausanne. Thus, the members of the Executive artist whose idiosyncratic style was rarely understood by Committee had the opportunity to visit the exhibition his contemporaries. The anniversary of his 125th birthday OLYMPIC LANGUAGE, curated by General Secretary Markus was cause enough for a German Olympic champion, the Osterwalder in the Olympic Museum. It is well worth walker Peter Frenkel, to organise an event in Potsdam, seeing, and it was a good idea to place the Mexico’68 where Grafström, who lived only to be 44, is buried. design at its centre thereby remembering the Summer The Sportimonium is the treasure chest of Belgian Games of 1968 which took place 50 years ago. sports history, in whose creation ISOH Lifetime Award No one who thinks of those Games can forget the “Black winner, Roland Renson, plays a large part. This time he Power” demonstration. Admittedly, it was a breach of leafs through the estate of Fernand de Montigny, who the Olympic Charter. Yet with their silent protest the three as an Olympic medallist in fencing and hockey was not medallists started a discussion on human rights in a way only an all­round athlete, but also a successful architect which had not been seen before. Ultimately it did more responsible for the 1920 Olympic Stadium in Antwerp. good than harm to the Olympic Movement. Eighty years after the première of the OLYMPIA film of In David Davis’ interview we learn how one of the three Berlin 1936 and 15 years after her death, the legendary rebels, former US sprinter John Carlos views the events German director Leni Riefenstahl returned to the head­ half a century later. It will give nothing away to reveal lines. The present reason: the handing­over of her ar tistic that he still regrets nothing. And when it’s a question of estate to the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation. Yet Mexico and “Black Power”, one is forced to talk about the not everywhere in the 700 chests of which the name former IOC President Avery Brundage, whom Anthony J. Riefenstahl stands is her work inside. That is proved by Wall describes as “Montecito’s King”. the example of the OLYMPIA film’s prologue, whose true Two articles are dedicated to famous Swedes. Ulf history has been researched by the editor of the Journal. Lagerström has written up the biography of the pheno­ How collectors can enrich Olympic history is shown menal Eric Lemming. He was a multi­talented athlete by ISOH member Christian Kunz. He discovered a series who took part in four Olympic Games but stood out in the of postcards which show how, a hundred years ago, javelin which he was able to win in 1906 as well as 1908 prisoners of war and internees organised “Olympic and 1912. Games” behind barbed wire fences. The other is the figure skater Gillis Grafström, whose Enjoy your reading – and hopefully many new three Olympic victories and one Olympic silver medal is insights! ISOH Executive Committee | 2016-2020 President David Wallechinsky (USA) Vice-President Dr. Christian Wacker (GER) Secretary-General Markus Osterwalder (SUI) Treasurer Ghassan Haddad (USA) Members Philip Barker (GBR) Secretary­General Dr. Kostas Georgiadis (GRE) Markus Osterwalder Volker Kluge (GER) Eggweg 6 9100 Herisau Leif Yttergren (SWE) Switzerland on behalf of the IOC Richard W. Pound (CAN) Phone: +41 71 351 77 19 ex-officio Dr. Bill Mallon (USA) E­mail: [email protected] JOH 2 | 2018 1 JOH 2.18_[1-80]_RZ.indd 1 04.07.18 15:37 Message from the President David Wallechinsky ISOH PRESIDENT In the rush to make the Winter Olympics more appeal­ I find it disturbing that an event in which almost half the ing to a younger audience, is the International Olympic participants will be injured (aerials) is allowed to remain Committee (IOC) risking the health of athletes? on the Olympic programme. Medical researchers made an extensive study of the The Sochi and Rio studies also tracked how many incidence of injury at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. (The athletes became ill, more often than not with results for the 2018 PyeongChang Games are not yet respiratory ailments. Not surprisingly, at the Winter available.) Olympics illnesses were most common among skeleton The results were published in the British Journal of participants: 27.7%. Sports Medicine as “Sports injuries and illnesses in the Take a look at the position of the noses and mouths of Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games”. The lead author skeleton sliders as they speed down the course and you’ll is Torbjørn Soligard of the IOC Medical and Scientific see why. The study also found that women are 50% more Division. likely to become ill than men. In the Summer Games, five The study found that 12% of the athletes who of the six sports in which illnesses were most common competed at the Sochi Games sustained injuries at were water sports: diving (12%), open­water marathon the Olympics either during training or competition. swimming (12%), sailing (12%), canoe slalom (11%) and However, the incidence of injury was much higher in synchronized swimming (10%). The only non­water sport events that have been recently added to the Olympic to make the top six was equestrian (11%). programme. Another recent report that I found interesting is the World Anti­Doping Agency (WADA)’s “2016 Anti­Doping The seven events with the worst rates of injury were: Rule Violations (ADRVs) Report”, which is updated Freestyle skiing aerials: 48.8% (added in 1994) through the end of 2017. Although extremely detailed, Snowboarding slopestyle: 37.0% (added in 2014) the results have to be considered non­definitive because Snowboarding cross: 34.4% (added in 2006) some National Olympic Committees have been – to Freestyle skiing slopestyle: 30.8% (added in 2014) put it as delicately as possible – “less than vigilant” in Freestyle skiing halfpipe: 25.5% (added in 2014) reporting failed doping tests. Freestyle skiing moguls: 24.4% (added in 1992) It comes as no surprise that two of the sports in which doping is most common are not included in the Olympic It is worth noting that the event with the highest rate programme: bodybuilding and powerlifting. But of injuries at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Summer Olympics burrowing into the statistics turns up some unexpected was also a new event: BMX cycling: 37.5% (added in facts. For example, who would have guessed that 2008). almost 12% of bridge players would fail doping tests, As I watched athletes in these new events smash up or that illegal doping was found in snooker, tug of war, their bodies at the 2018 PyeongChang Games and then cheerleading and bowling? The guilty parties in bridge met some of the survivors afterwards, it was clear that were all from Italy and Portugal. they greatly enjoyed their sport. However, I could not help but wonder how many of these young people Among Olympic sports, the sports with the highest realized that the battering they were receiving could percentage of violations were: cause them prolonged pain, suffering and trauma later Long­Distance Canoeing (1000 metres+): 2.8% in life. Weightlifting: 1.2% Most fans watch these events for a couple hours Cycling: 1.2% on television or online and then don’t pay attention Greco­Roman Wrestling: 1.1% to them for another four years. It reminded me of the ancient Roman gladiator games, which would briefly The problem in canoeing led to the entire Romanian entertain the spectators, while the combatants were canoe team being banned from the Rio Olympics, as was quickly forgotten. the team from Belarus. 2 JOH 2.18_[1-80]_RZ.indd 2 04.07.18 15:37 Minutes from the ISOH Executive Committee Meeting 2018 By David Wallechinsky and Markus Osterwalder Lausanne, Olympic Studies Centre, 14th May 2018, 9:00 am Present: David Wallechinsky (DW), Markus Osterwalder (MO), Ghassan Haddad (GH), Volker Kluge (VK), Philip Barker (PB), Kostas Georgiadis (KG), Excused: Richard Pound, Christian Wacker (CW), Leif Yttergren 1. Opening by President David Wallechinsky In his opening speech, DW talked about the funeral of Tony Bijkerk and how important ISOH was to Tony. Even the cover of the invitation to his memorial service mentioned his function as Secretary­General. In his speech to the mourning community, DW talked about Tony‘s contributions to the Olympic Movement and his commitment to ISOH. Another topic we discussed is the storage of ISOH members from countries that have had little to do IOC President Thomas documents and donations. Various options were with promoting the study of Olympic history. Certainly Bach met members discussed, and it was decided to leave the archive in it is an advantage if a country has hosted the Olympic of the ISOH Executive Herisau with the Secretary­General until his office is Games. However, this is not a guarantee for adding new Committee on the handed over to his successor. members. A good example is Brazil. shores of Lake Geneva. DW told us about his job interviewing Olympic athletes We also talked about the possibility of translating who are older than 85. His last interview was with Hans Photo: Markus Osterwalder articles into different languages. At our meeting In Maier from the Netherlands, who took part in the water Stockholm in 2017, we had already debated this, but in polo event in Berlin 1936. He is now 101 years old, and it theory this seems easier said than done.