Games of the XIII Olympiad
Host cityLondon, United Kingdom
Summer
Winter

The 1944 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XIII Olympiad, was a planned international multi-sport event scheduled to have been held from July to August 1944 in London, England, United Kingdom. The games were canceled due to World War II alongside the 1944 Winter Olympics in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, and were the fifth games to be canceled due to war. However, unofficial celebrations went ahead anyway in Switzerland as well as by Polish prisoners of war held in Nazi-occupied Poland.

The games eventually took place in London in 1948, and would later host the 2012 Summer Olympics.

History

London won the bid on the first ballot in a June 1939 International Olympic Committee election over Rome, Detroit, Lausanne, Athens, Budapest, Helsinki and Montreal. The selection was made at the 38th IOC Session in London in 1939.[1]

Due to World War II, which by then had been ongoing for four years and had devastated London, the games were canceled. In spite of the war, the IOC organised many events to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of its foundation at its headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland. Held from 17 to 19 June 1944, this celebration was referred to as "The Jubilee Celebrations of IOC" by Carl Diem, the originator of the modern tradition of the Olympic torch relay.[2]

Polish prisoners of war in the Woldenberg (Dobiegniew) Oflag II-C POW camp were granted permission by their German captors to stage an unofficial POW Olympics during 23 July to 13 August 1944, and an Olympic Flag made with a bed sheet and pieces of coloured scarves was raised. The event has been considered to be a demonstration of the Olympic spirit transcending war.[3]

Bid results

IOC voting[1]
CityCountryRound 1
LondonUnited Kingdom United Kingdom20
Rome Italy11
DetroitUnited States United States2
Lausanne Switzerland Switzerland1
AthensKingdom of Greece Greece0
BudapestKingdom of Hungary (1920–1946) Hungary0
HelsinkiFinland Finland0
Montreal Canada0

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 "Past Olympic host city election results". GamesBids. Archived from the original on 24 January 2011. Retrieved 17 March 2011.
  2. ↑ "Beijing 2008 Olympic Games: Mount Olympus Meets the Middle Kingdom | Beijing 2008 Olympic Games :: History of the Olympic Games". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 11 December 2015.
  3. ↑ Grys, Iwona (1996), "The Olympic Idea Transcending War" (PDF), Olympic Review, XXV (8, April–May 1996): 68, archived from the original on 10 September 2008, retrieved 26 June 2012.
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