ÿþ<html> <head> <title> WHKMLA : History of the Early Cold War : The Medal Race </title> <!-- copyright Alexander Ganse, 2001 --> </head> <body bgcolor = "lightgreen"> <div align = "center"> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD align = "center" valign = "center"> <A HREF = "../../index.html"> <img src = "../../banner.jpg" border = "0"> </A></TD></TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width = "150" height = "36" align = "center" valign = "center"> <font size = "2" face = "arial"><B> Arms Race </B></font></TD> <TD width = "36" height = "36" align = "center" valign = "center"> <A HREF = "armsrace.html"> <img src = "../../region/arrowleft.gif" width = "36" height = "36" border = "0"> </A></TD> <TD align = "center" valign = "center"> <A HREF = "xecw.html"> <img src = "../banners/banecw.jpg" border = "0"> </A></TD> <TD width = "36" height = "36" align = "center" valign = "center"> <A HREF = "cwprop.html"> <img src = "../../region/arrowright.gif" width = "36" height = "36" border = "0"></A> </TD> <TD width = "150" height = "36" align = "center" valign = "center"> <font size = "2" face = "arial"><B> Cold War Propaganda </B></font></TD></TR></TABLE> <BR><BR><BR> <script language="JavaScript"> <!-- function SymError() { return true; } window.onerror = SymError; //--> </script> <script type="text/javascript"><!-- google_ad_client = "pub-0213752126925919"; google_alternate_color = "FFFFE1"; google_ad_width = 728; google_ad_height = 90; google_ad_format = "728x90_as"; google_ad_channel ="4814426207"; google_ad_type = "text"; google_page_url = document.location; google_color_border = "FF3300"; google_color_bg = "FFFFE1"; google_color_link = "0000CC"; google_color_url = "008000"; google_color_text = "6F6F6F"; //--></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script> <BR><BR><BR> </div> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width = "900" align = "center" valign = "center"> <font size = "6" face = "arial"><B> The Medal Race </B></font> </TD></TR></TABLE><BR> <BR><BR> <font size = "4" face = "Times Roman"> When the first summer Olympic Games after the war were held in 1948 in London, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Poland and Yugoslavia attended, but not the Soviet Union. However, Stalin soon realized the propagandistic value of the Olympic Games, and from the Helsinki Games of 1952 onward, the nations of the Soviet block would not only participate, but also try to outdo the competitors from the west, especially from the USA. <BR><BR> <TABLE border = "3" cellspace = "5" cellpadding = "5" align = "center"> <TR> <TD width = "965" valign = "top" align = "center" bgcolor = "#FFFFFF"> <font size = "4"><i><B> Summer Olympic Games, Gold Medals, Selected Nations </B></i></font> </TD></TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "3" cellspace = "5" cellpadding = "5" align = "center"> <TR> <TD width = "160" valign = "top" align = "left" bgcolor = "#FFFFFF"> <font size = "3"> Place, Year </font></TD> <TD width = "120" valign = "top" align = "right" bgcolor = "#FFFFFF"> <font size = "3"> No. of Events </font></TD> <TD width = "120" valign = "top" align = "right" bgcolor = "#FFFFFF"> <font size = "3"> Gold Medals <BR> USA </font></TD> <TD width = "120" valign = "top" align = "right" bgcolor = "#FFFFFF"> <font size = "3"> Gold Medals <BR> USSR </font></TD> <TD width = "120" valign = "top" align = "right" bgcolor = "#FFFFFF"> <font size = "3"> Gold Medals <BR> Germany (unif.) </font></TD> <TD width = "120" valign = "top" align = "right" bgcolor = "#FFFFFF"> <font size = "3"> Gold Medals <BR> FRG </font></TD> <TD width = "120" valign = "top" align = "right" bgcolor = "#FFFFFF"> <font size = "3"> Gold Medals <BR> GDR </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "3" cellspace = "5" cellpadding = "5" align = "center"> <TR> <TD width = "160" valign = "top" align = "left" bgcolor = "#FFFFFF"> <font size = "3"> London 1948 <BR> Helsinki 1952 <BR> Melbourne 1956 <BR> Rome 1960 <BR> Tokyo 1964 <BR> Mexico City 1968 <BR> Munich 1972 </font></TD> <TD width = "120" valign = "top" align = "right" bgcolor = "#FFFFFF"> <font size = "3"> 138 <BR> 149 <BR> 153 <BR> 152 <BR> 163 <BR> 174 <BR> 195 </font></TD> <TD width = "120" valign = "top" align = "right" bgcolor = "#FFFFFF"> <font size = "3"> 38 <BR> 40 <BR> 32 <BR> 34 <BR> 36 <BR> 45 <BR> 33 </font></TD> <TD width = "120" valign = "top" align = "right" bgcolor = "#FFFFFF"> <font size = "3"> n.p. <BR> 22 <BR> 37 <BR> 43 <BR> 30 <BR> 29 <BR> 50 </font></TD> <TD width = "120" valign = "top" align = "right" bgcolor = "#FFFFFF"> <font size = "3"> n.p. <BR> 0 <BR> 6 <BR> 12 <BR> 10 <BR> split <BR> split </font></TD> <TD width = "120" valign = "top" align = "right" bgcolor = "#FFFFFF"> <font size = "3"> n.p. <BR> joint <BR> joint <BR> joint <BR> joint <BR> 5 <BR> 13 </font></TD> <TD width = "120" valign = "top" align = "right" bgcolor = "#FFFFFF"> <font size = "3"> n.p. <BR> joint <BR> joint <BR> joint <BR> joint <BR> 9 <BR> 20 </font></TD> </TR></TABLE><BR><BR> Soon a major difference in sports philosophy became apparent. The west treated the Olympic Games as an event where AMATEUR athletes would compete for individual glory. The USSR and its satellite countries stated that there were no professional athletes in a socialist society. Yet excelling athletes were granted economic security, as they were pro forma be given jobs in state cooperatives or enlisted in the army's athlete battallions, and given ample time for training (STATE AMATEURS). US universities, many of them private, would counter this phenomenon by generously granting scholarships for promising/ excelling athletes. The exclusion of western professional athletes was advantageous for athletes from the socialist countries especially in sports such as ICE HOCKEY and SOCCER. <BR> The success of socialist teams in harvesting medals partially is explained by strategic planning; they strongly focussed on events were competition was relatively weak, due to the participation of only a few nations/athletes. The US, on the other hand, focussed on events which were popular in the states. This interest limited to certain sports areas is clearly evident from the medal results in the Winter Olympics, as shown below. <BR><BR> <TABLE border = "3" cellspace = "5" cellpadding = "5" align = "center"> <TR> <TD width = "965" valign = "top" align = "center" bgcolor = "#FFFFFF"> <font size = "4"><i><B> Winter Olympic Games, Gold Medals, Selected Nations </B></i></font> </TD></TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "3" cellspace = "5" cellpadding = "5" align = "center"> <TR> <TD width = "160" valign = "top" align = "left" bgcolor = "#FFFFFF"> <font size = "3"> Place, Year </font></TD> <TD width = "120" valign = "top" align = "right" bgcolor = "#FFFFFF"> <font size = "3"> No. of Events </font></TD> <TD width = "120" valign = "top" align = "right" bgcolor = "#FFFFFF"> <font size = "3"> Gold Medals <BR> USA </font></TD> <TD width = "120" valign = "top" align = "right" bgcolor = "#FFFFFF"> <font size = "3"> Gold Medals <BR> USSR </font></TD> <TD width = "120" valign = "top" align = "right" bgcolor = "#FFFFFF"> <font size = "3"> Gold Medals <BR> Germany (unif.) </font></TD> <TD width = "120" valign = "top" align = "right" bgcolor = "#FFFFFF"> <font size = "3"> Gold Medals <BR> FRG </font></TD> <TD width = "120" valign = "top" align = "right" bgcolor = "#FFFFFF"> <font size = "3"> Gold Medals <BR> GDR </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "3" cellspace = "5" cellpadding = "5" align = "center"> <TR> <TD width = "160" valign = "top" align = "left" bgcolor = "#FFFFFF"> <font size = "3"> Sankt Moritz 1948 <BR> Oslo 1952 <BR> Cortina d'Ampezzo 1956 <BR> Squaw Valley 1960 <BR> Innsbruck 1964 <BR> Grenoble 1968 <BR> Sapporo 1972 </font></TD> <TD width = "120" valign = "top" align = "right" bgcolor = "#FFFFFF"> <font size = "3"> 22 <BR> 22 <BR> 25 <BR> 28 <BR> 34 <BR> 35 <BR> 36 </font></TD> <TD width = "120" valign = "top" align = "right" bgcolor = "#FFFFFF"> <font size = "3"> 3 <BR> 4 <BR> 2 <BR> 3 <BR> 1 <BR> 1 <BR> 3 </font></TD> <TD width = "120" valign = "top" align = "right" bgcolor = "#FFFFFF"> <font size = "3"> n.p. <BR> n.p. <BR> 7 <BR> 7 <BR> 11 <BR> 5 <BR> 8 </font></TD> <TD width = "120" valign = "top" align = "right" bgcolor = "#FFFFFF"> <font size = "3"> n.p. <BR> 3 <BR> 1 <BR> 4 <BR> 3 <BR> split <BR> split </font></TD> <TD width = "120" valign = "top" align = "right" bgcolor = "#FFFFFF"> <font size = "3"> n.p. <BR> joint <BR> joint <BR> joint <BR> joint <BR> 2 <BR> 3 </font></TD> <TD width = "120" valign = "top" align = "right" bgcolor = "#FFFFFF"> <font size = "3"> n.p. <BR> joint <BR> joint <BR> joint <BR> joint <BR> 1 <BR> 4 </font></TD> </TR></TABLE><BR><BR> In Tokyo 1964, Germany for the last time prior to unification was represented by a unified team. From 1968 onward, two separate German teams competed, and the GDR team always outscored the FRG team significantly (despite the fact that the population ratio was 1:3.5); the GDR would rise to become the third sports superpower. <BR> Its success (the GDR had a population of only 17 million, as compared to the c. 250 million each of the USA and USSR) was explained by a system which selected promising talents at elementary school level, systematically trained them to become athletes, rewarded medalists by numerous privileges (such as travels to the west, luxury homes etc.) and made use of illegal performance-enhancing substances (DOPING). <BR> The medal harvest was an important element in communist propaganda; in the case of the GDR it formed a major element of GDR (East German) national identity. <BR> Yet, until 1980, the Olympic Games were not held in any socialist country. Olympic Games seemed to be events staged in the west, where the athletes of the socialist east were allowed to attend, to win. The events, where amateurs competed, where dinanced by commercial SPONSORS, US-based soft drink producer Coca Cola traditionally being the most important one. These commercial sponsors had no interest in the games being staged in a country where their products could not be sold. <BR> The Oympic Games are organized by the INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE (IOC), which consists of numerous National Olympic Committees (NOCs). Due to their repeated successes in many areas, the NOCs of the socialist countries gained significant representation within the IOC. and their individual sub-organizations for specific sports. <BR> Although the socialist coutriies' sports programmes were successful in statistical figures, they were a significant burden for society and economy, as they were not only costly but induced young talents to seek a career in a field which ultimately did not benefit society. <BR><BR><BR> <TABLE border = "3" cellspace="5" cellpadding="5" align="center"> <TR> <TD width = "150" valign = "top" align = "center" bgcolor="#FFFACD"> <font size = "3" face = "Times Roman" color = "#000000"> EXTERNAL <BR> FILES </font></TD> <TD width = "700" valign = "top" align = "left" bgcolor = "#FFFACD"> <font size = "2" face = "Times Roman" color = "#000000"> </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "3" cellspace="5" cellpadding="5" align="center"> <TR> <TD width = "150" valign = "top" align = "center" bgcolor="#FFFACD"> <font size = "3" face = "Times Roman" color = "#000000"> DOCUMENTS </font></TD> <TD width = "700" valign = "top" align = "left" bgcolor = "#FFFACD"> <font size = "2" face = "Times Roman" color = "#000000"> Final Medal Standings : <A HREF = "http://www.darmoni.net/1948.HTM"><B>London 1948</B></A>, <A HREF = "http://www.darmoni.net/1952.HTM"><B>Helsinki 1952</B></A>, <A HREF = "http://www.darmoni.net/1956.HTM"><B>Melbourne 1956</B></A>, <A HREF = "http://www.darmoni.net/1960.HTM"><B>Rome 1960</B></A>, <A HREF = "http://www.darmoni.net/1964.HTM"><B>Tokyo 1964</B></A>, <A HREF = "http://www.darmoni.net/1968.HTM"><B>Mexico City 1968</B></A>, <A HREF = "http://www.darmoni.net/1972.HTM"><B>Munich 1972</B></A> from Summer Olympics Statistics by S.J. Darmoni <BR> Final Medal Standings : <A HREF = "http://www.darmoni.net/hiveran.htm#1948"><B>St. Moritz 1948</B></A>, scroll down for Oslo 1952, Cortina d'Ampezzo 1956, Squaw Valley 1960, Innsbtuck 1964, Grenoble 1968, Sapporo 1972, from Winter Olympics Statistics by D.J. Damoni </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "3" cellspace="5" cellpadding="5" align="center"> <TR> <TD width = "150" valign = "top" align = "center" bgcolor="#FFFACD"> <font size = "2" face = "Times Roman" color = "#000000"> VIDEOS </font></TD> <TD width = "700" valign = "top" align = "left" bgcolor = "#FFFACD"> <font size = "2" face = "Times Roman" color = "#000000"> </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <BR><BR><BR> <TABLE border="5" cellspace="10" cellpadding="10" align="center" bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><TR> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="center"> <font size = "3" face = "Times Roman" color = "#000000"><i>This page is part of <B>World History at KMLA</b></i></font><BR> <font size = "2" face = "Times Roman" color = "#000000"><i>First posted on July 8th 2001, last revised on November 14th 2004</i></font> <BR><BR> <font size = "2" face = "Times Roman"> Click here to go <A HREF = "../../index.html">Home</A> <BR> Click here to go to <A HREF = "../../about.html">Information about KMLA, WHKMLA, the author and webmaster</A> <BR> Click here to go to <A HREF = "../../links.html">Statistics</A><BR> </TD></TR></TABLE><BR><BR><BR> </DIV> <DIV align="center"> <A href="mailto:aganse@hotmail.com"> <IMG src="../../email.gif" border="0"></a><BR> <BR><BR><BR><BR><BR> <!-- Start of CH Counter --> <script type="text/javascript"> //<!-- // chCounter v2.0.0 // settings: cstatus = "active"; visible = "0"; path_to_counterfile = "http://www.zum.de/whkmla/counter/counter.php"; urlhp = "http://www.zum.de"; //////////////// url = unescape(location.href); file = url.substring(url.lastIndexOf(urlhp) + urlhp.length, url.length); file = (file.charAt(0) != "/") ? "/" + file : file; referer = (document.referrer) ? document.referrer : ""; document.write("<script type=\"text/javascript\" "); document.write("src=\"" + path_to_counterfile + "?chCounter_mode=js&status=" + cstatus + "&visible=" + visible); document.write("&seite=" + file + "&referer=" + referer + "&res_width=" + screen.width + "&res_height=" + screen.height + "\"></" + "script>"); //--> </script> <!-- End of CH Counter --> <BR> </div> </body> </html>