Western University Scholarship@Western Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository 12-4-2015 12:00 AM Avery Brundage, Pan-American Games, and Entrenchment of the Olympic Movement in Latin America Doiara Silva dos Santos The University of Western Ontario Supervisor Robert Knight Barney The University of Western Ontario Graduate Program in Kinesiology A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree in Doctor of Philosophy © Doiara Silva dos Santos 2015 Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd Part of the Kinesiology Commons Recommended Citation Silva dos Santos, Doiara, "Avery Brundage, Pan-American Games, and Entrenchment of the Olympic Movement in Latin America" (2015). Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. 3370. https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/3370 This Dissertation/Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarship@Western. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository by an authorized administrator of Scholarship@Western. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Avery Brundage, the Pan-American Games, and Entrenchment of the Olympic Movement in Latin America (Thesis format: Monograph) by Doiara Silva dos Santos Graduate Program in Kinesiology A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies Western University London, Ontario, Canada © Doiara Silva dos Santos 2015 Abstract To become firmly established, the Pan-American Games depended on the efforts of particular individuals. With Avery Brundage's attention to the Pan-American Games as the center of this analysis, this study documented the main events leading up to the inauguration of the Pan-American Games as well as their development and significance to Latin American countries in the mid-twentieth century. The research material was mainly drawn from primary sources, most importantly, those found in the Avery Brundage Collection at Western University. The study demonstrated that Brundage saw in the Pan-American Games not only a challenge, but an opportunity to promote the Modern Olympic Movement’s rules and ideals throughout Latin America. A crucial finding from this investigation is how Brundage articulated the foundation of the Pan-American Games by clouding his actions and attitudes from imperialist connotations. He skillfully managed to build a trustful and solid networking with Latin American sport leaders, agreeing with the idea of creating a new and autonomous institution, the Pan-American Sports Organization (PASO). However, gradually, Brundage put forward the interests of the IOC, or to be more accurate, his view of sports, the Olympic Movement, and its purposes. In sum, two arguments related to the purpose and function of the Pan-American Games in its formative years stood out from data analysis: the diplomatic role of the Games towards enhancing Inter-American relationships; and the idealistic view later implicated in the event aimed at fostering the ‘high ideals’ of the Modern Olympic Movement. Keywords: Pan-American Games. Latin America. Olympic Movement. ii Acknowledgments This work would not be possible at all if I did not have essential values to guide me. The gift of a family is incomparable. You are the source of my strength and sustenance. To my mother, Iara and my father, Odoel, saying thank you hardly seems enough after all you have done for me. If it was not because of your support, love, encouragement, and care, I would never have got this opportunity. To my brother, Júnior, his wife, Tessala, and my beautiful nephews Arthur and Felipe, know that you are in my heart now and forever. Cousins, uncles, aunts, grandma, thank you for your kind wishes and heartfelt thoughts. I am lucky to have many friends, both near and far away. To Gábi, I have to say thank you for your love, patience and kindness in all things you say and do, and for holding my head up high in all the difficult moments. To each of you Sunny, Paulinha, Nanda, Laly, Lore, Tici, Isis, Carol, the “Caribé Family,” William, Silvio, Paulo, Sophy, Nicole, Vinícius and Marina, thank you for being there for me, for offering me a friendship more valuable than gold. Being far from you on many occasions, family and friends, was more difficult than anything else. Writing this dissertation was only the final of many great challenges I have faced since the beginning of the doctoral program in Kinesiology at Western University in January 2012. I would not have started this program if my supervisor, Dr. Robert Knight Barney, was not the first person to say that I had the “tools to do the job.” Being one of your students has been an inestimable privilege. Thank you for believing in me. I still remember seeing you and snow for the first time when you went to pick me up at the airport upon my first arrival in London as a visiting student in January 2010. iii I want to express my deepest gratitude, appreciation and admiration for you Dr. Barney, and your wife, Ashleigh. I will never forget the experience of studying under your precious care and guidance. I could not have completed this study without having access to the International Centre for Olympic Studies and Weldon Library’s Archives and Research Collections Centre. My special thanks go to Weldon’s Archives Assistant Theresa Regnier. I would also like to thank all the faculty members who gave me advice, shared their knowledge and experience, and contributed to my academic education during the various stages of this doctoral program: Dr. Michael Heine, Dr. Kevin Wamsley, Dr. Don Morrow, Dr. Janice Forsyth, Dr. Karen Danylchuk, Dr. Laura Misener, Dr. Ken Kirkwood, and Dr. Andres Perez. I would like to say thanks to Dr. Cesar Torres for finding the time to act as an External Examiner for this work. I also want to thank Brazilian Professors Otávio Tavares, Marcia Morel, Micheli Venturini, and Regina Marchesi for inspiring me with their work, and for always pushing me to raise my sights. Also, I am greatly indebted to my colleagues at the Federal University of Juiz de Fora, Brazil, for their willingness to support me during the last part of this journey. I would like to express my appreciation for the Kinesiology Graduate Program’s staff, mainly Lindsay Stark, Jacqui Saunders, and Jenn Plaskett for all the valuable assistance you provided every time I needed. Most importantly of all, I want to thank you dear God, for giving me the strength to keep going, for watching my back every time, for blessing me more than I deserve. iv Table of Contents Abstract ....................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgments ...................................................................................................... iii List of Abbreviations .................................................................................................. vii List of Figures ............................................................................................................ viii Chapter 1 - Introduction ............................................................................................ 1 Statement of purpose ............................................................................................... 5 Contribution to the body of knowledge ..................................................................... 5 Methodology............................................................................................................. 8 Limitations .............................................................................................................. 11 Delimitations ........................................................................................................... 13 Organization of the study ....................................................................................... 15 Literature Review ................................................................................................... 16 Sport and Sport History in Latin America ............................................................ 19 Latin America and the Olympic Movement: Early Encounters ............................ 23 Olympic Expansion in the 1920s: IOC-YMCA partnership .................................. 30 Regional Games in Latin America: 1922 and 1926 ............................................. 33 Growing Pains: Avery Brundage and the Pan-American Games ........................ 42 Chapter 2 – The Sporting and Ideological Character of Avery Brundage and the Pan-American Mission ............................................................................................ 53 Alexander Hogarty and Avery Bundage: Diplomatic Motives and the issue of American Athletic Superiority .............................................................................. 59 Brundage’s idealistic view of sports meets the Pan-American Games ............... 67 Bureaucratizing the Pan-American Games ......................................................... 75 Chapter 3 – Operational Challenges and Political Inclinations: Bringing the Pan-American Games to life ................................................................................... 84 Brundage, Peronism and the Preparations for the First Pan-American Games...89 The First Pan-American Games ....................................................................... 111 Chapter 4 – Putting the Pan-American Games on a Sound Footing ................