Have the Olympic Games Ever Been Canceled?

The 2020 Olympic games were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but as of yet they haven't been canceled. Learn when the Olympics were canceled in this episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/olympics-skipped.htm

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to brain Stuff production of iHeart Radio. Hey brain Stuff,
Lauren bogebam here. Oh. With the Olympic Games postponed until one,
we got to wondering have the Games ever been canceled?
The answer is yes. The Games scheduled to be held
in nineteen sixteen, nineteen forty, and nineteen forty four, all

(00:25):
years when lots of countries were embroiled in World Wars
one and two, were canceled due to the massive conflicts
being carried out. That's not a decision that the buttoned
up International Olympic Committee or IOC takes lightly. Even when
the IOC decided in ninety six to begin staggering the
Games so that Winter and Summer Olympics were not held

(00:47):
in the same year, but rather in two year intervals,
the games were never skipped. Instead, the Olympics went on
as scheduled in night and nine two, and a second
Winter Olympics was held in nineteen nine four to put
the international of events apart. But nineteen sixteen, nineteen forty
and nineteen forty four were grim years and holding the

(01:08):
Olympics ended up taking a back burner due to the
very dire circumstances playing out on the world stage. In
the first case, let's set that stage. The year was
nineteen fourteen and much Olympic preparation was afoot as directed
by the members of the IOC. The flag with its
iconic rings was unveiled for the first time that year,

(01:30):
along with the choice of the host city for the
nineteen sixteen Games. Back then, the host city didn't get
the seven years notice it does now. Ironically, the choice
was Berlin. While the IOC was busy getting ready, Austria
Hungary declared war on Serbia, and the Germans were quick
to join the battle. Although their targets were primarily Russia

(01:52):
and France, Belgium, a neutral nation, was the next target.
In response, Britain joined in and the Great War now
known as World War One, was well under way. Given
the state of world affairs, British members of the IOC
protested the fact that Berlin was still the top choice
for hosting the nineteen sixteen Games, and they resigned when

(02:13):
their demands for an alternative location were not met. At
the same time, the Germans were adamant and continued planning.
The Germans did issue a caveat, though only nations who
were on their side or neutral could participate, and several
US cities offered themselves as replacement sites, while other IOC
members said there could be no games until ninety Pierre Couberton,

(02:38):
founder of the IOC and widely recognized father of the
modern Olympics, had this to say on the matter. The
IOC could not withdraw the games without consulting the designated city,
which presumably would have to give its consent. At the time,
Kuberton noted that it was possible that these particular games
would not occur as the war trudged on. Kuber CON's

(03:00):
prediction proved accurate. The nineteen sixteen games were not held.
It was, after all, the war to end all wars.
The stadium stood silent. Fast forward a few decades, and
Germany finally got the chance to hold the Games in
Berlin in nineteen thirty six, although those games went down
in history as the ones that then German Chancellor Adolf

(03:21):
Hitler used to showcase Nazi propaganda. Meanwhile, the IOC declared
an Asian nation as the future site of an Olympics
in nineteen forty. Japan was slated to become the first
country in Asia to host the games. Rumor has it
that Tokyo won the role of host city because of
a bit of skullduggery. One of Japan's IOC members, Michimas Sosayeshima,

(03:45):
reportedly met with Benito Mussolini and promised him the Japanese
contingents backing for the nineteen forty four Games to be
held in Rome if he would weigh in on Japan's
bid for nineteen forty He may have tampered with the
opinions of other members too. Of all, this effort was
for not, as the nineteen forty four Games never happened either.

(04:05):
Here's how it went down again. The IOC refused the
idea of moving the nineteen forty Games, which became a
matter of exacerbated controversy when Japan invaded China. Eventually, though
it became apparent that the Games would not go forward,
Martial law at that point ruled Japan and decreed that
the Games were not going to happen, and World War

(04:27):
Two was still raging in nineteen forty four, causing the
cancelation of the nineteen forty four Games. The Olympics would
not again see the world stage until nineteen forty eight,
when they took place in London. However, although official Olympics
didn't occur in nineteen forty or nineteen forty four, they
didn't go completely unheralded. Prisoners of war in a few

(04:48):
European camps held covert Olympiads. Only a handful of relics
survived from these clandestine games, including a flag small and
drawn on a Polish prisoner's shirt in crayon. In nineteen
forty four. The flag of those surreptitious games was made
of a bedsheet and scarves. The Olympic oath for these
games began in the name of all the sportsmen whose

(05:11):
stadiums are fenced with barbed wire. After World War Two,
all Summer Olympic Games took place as scheduled until the
twenty Tokyo Summer Olympics. The IOC president announced in March
of twenty that, due to the COVID nineteen pandemic, the
games quote must be rescheduled to a date beyond twenty

(05:31):
but not later than summer one, to safeguard the health
of the athletes, everybody involved in the Olympic Games, and
the international community. As of this writing, the Tokyo Games
are still scheduled to take place July twenty three through
August eighty one under strict guidelines to ensure the safety
of athletes and attendees. Interestingly, the games are still referred

(05:53):
to as the twenty Olympics even though they're being held
in one. Billions of dollars from TV rights and merchandizing
are at stake, so an outright cancelation is unlikely. However,
the only spectators allowed will be those who live within
Japan's borders. The Japanese government has barred overseas visitors from
entering the country, and one a pole showed of Japanese

(06:18):
residents still think the games should be canceled or further postponed.
Today's episode is based on the article are the Olympics
ever canceled? On how stuff works dot com written by
Jessica Tuthman. Brain Stuff is production of I Heart Radio
in partnership with how stuff works dot Com and is
produced by Tyler Klang. Four more podcasts from my heart Radio.

(06:40):
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