Canceled multi-sport event
The
1940
Summer Olympics
, officially known as the
Games of the XII Olympiad
, was a planned international
multi-sport event
scheduled to have been held from September 21 to October 6, 1940 in
Tokyo City
,
Empire of Japan
, and later rescheduled for July 20 to August 4, 1940 in
Helsinki
,
Finland
following the outbreak of the
Second Sino-Japanese War
in 1937. They were ultimately canceled because of
World War II
alongside the
1940 Winter Olympics
in
Sapporo
, Empire of Japan, and were the third games to be canceled due to war.
Helsinki would eventually host the
1952 Summer Olympics
. Tokyo would also later host the
1964
and
2020 Summer Olympics
, the latter being postponed to 2021 due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
.
1940 Tokyo Olympics (canceled)
[
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]
The campaign to choose a city for 1940 began in 1932, with
Barcelona
,
Rome
,
Helsinki
, and Tokyo participating. Tokyo city officials suggested a campaign as a means of international diplomacy following Japan's alienation from the
League of Nations
due to the
Mukden Incident
, in which Japan occupied
Manchuria
and created the puppet state of
Manchukuo
.
While both Tokyo officials and
International Olympic Committee
(IOC) representatives were behind the campaign, the national government, which was ever more interested in military matters, did not have any strong supporters for such a diplomatic gesture.
[1]
In 1936, Tokyo was chosen in a surprise move, making it the first non-Western city to win an Olympic bid.
1930s Japan and international sports
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]
During the
1930 Far Eastern Games
in Tokyo, Indian participants were spotted flying the flag of their independence movement rather than the
flag of British India
. This caused a complaint from the
British Olympic Association
. In 1934 Japan attempted to invite European colonies to the
Far Eastern Games
.
[2]
Planning
[
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]
The main stadium was initially to be the
Meiji Jingu Gaien Stadium
? later used at the
1964 Summer Olympics
? reconstructed to accommodate 100,000 spectators; however the Shrines Bureau of
Home Ministry
, which had jurisdiction over the
Meiji Jingu
precinct, strongly opposed the reconstruction. Subsequently, a new stadium was planned at the
Komazawa Olympic Park
, away from the city center. The Olympic Village was to be built on the present sites of
Kinuta Park
or Todoroki Gorge. A schedule was drawn up, and guidelines were printed in four languages. Monthly magazines and posters were printed and distributed internationally. Construction began on some buildings, and arrangements were made with hotels, travel agents, and airlines for easy access.
[3]
Forfeiture of Games
[
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]
When the
Second Sino-Japanese War
broke out on July 7, 1937,
Ichir? K?no
, a member of the
Imperial Diet
(legislature), immediately requested that the Olympics be forfeited.
[4]
The
1938 Far Eastern Games
were also canceled, but Japan's IOC delegates persisted under a belief that the war would soon be over.
[5]
Amid the intensification of the war, the feasibility of both the Summer Olympics and the
1940 Winter Olympics
grew increasingly questionable to other countries, who suggested a different site be chosen and spoke of the possibility of boycotting the Games were they to proceed in Japan.
[6]
In March 1938, the Japanese provided reassurances to the IOC at the organization's
Cairo
conference that Tokyo would still be able to serve as the host city. However, many Diet members in Japan had already openly questioned hosting the Olympics in wartime, and the military was demanding that the organizers build the venues from wood because they needed metals for the war front.
[7]
In July, a legislative session was held to decide the matters of the Summer and Winter Olympics and the planned 1940
World's Fair
all at once. The World's Fair was only "postponed", under a belief that Japan would be able to wrap up the war, but the Olympics could not be moved and was canceled.
[8]
K?ichi Kido
, who would later be instrumental in the
surrender of Japan
in 1945, announced the forfeiture on July 16, 1938. He closed his speech saying, "When peace reigns again in the Far East, we can then invite the Games to Tokyo and take that opportunity to prove to the people of the world the true Japanese spirit."
[3]
This would come to pass in
1964
.
Despite the cancellation of the 1940 Olympics, the Tokyo organizing committee released its budget for the Games. In a departure from standard practice, the budget included all capital outlays as well as direct organizing costs. The total budget was
¥
20.1 million, one-third of which would have been paid by the Tokyo metropolitan government.
[9]
Helsinki and other competitions
[
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]
The IOC then awarded the Games to
Helsinki
, Finland, the city that had been the runner-up in the original bidding process. The Games were then scheduled to be staged from July 20 to August 4, 1940. The Olympic Games were suspended indefinitely following the outbreak of World War II (the
Winter War
in particular) and did not resume until the
London Games of 1948
.
With the Olympics canceled, the major international athletics event of the year turned out to be the annual
Finland-Sweden athletics international
, held at the new
Helsinki Olympic Stadium
, exceptionally held as a triple international among
Finland
,
Sweden
and
Germany
.
Gliding
was due to be an Olympic sport in the 1940 Games after a
demonstration
at the
Berlin
Games in 1936.
[10]
[11]
The sport has not been featured in any Games since, though the glider designed for it, the
DFS Olympia Meise
, was produced in large numbers after the war.
Meanwhile, Japan hosted the
1940 East Asian Games
in Tokyo, with six participating nations. Helsinki eventually held the
1952 Summer Olympics
, while Tokyo held the
1964 Summer Olympics
and the
2020 Summer Olympics
, although the later event was postponed to 2021 due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
.
[12]
During August 1940, prisoners of war celebrated a "special Olympics" called the
International Prisoner-of-War Olympic Games
at
Stalag
XIII-A in
Langwasser
, near
Nuremberg
, Germany. An Olympic flag, 29 by 46 cm in size, was made of a Polish prisoner's shirt and, drawn in crayon, it featured the Olympic rings and banners for Belgium, France, Great Britain, Norway, Poland, and the Netherlands. A feature film,
Olimpiada '40
, produced by the director
Andrzej Kotkowski
in 1980 tells the story of these games and of one of the prisoners of war, Teodor Niewiadomski.
[13]
Torch run
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]
After the successful invention of the torch relay in Nazi Germany four years earlier, the proposed method of bringing the
Olympic Flame
from Nazi Germany to Japan was proposed by air delivery, in the
purpose-built
Messerschmitt Me 261
Adolfine
long-range aircraft, which was designed to have a maximum range of some 11,024 km (6,850 mi) unrefueled.
[14]
See also
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]
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
Sandra Collins.
The 1940 Tokyo Games: The Missing Olympics: Japan, the Asian Olympics and the Olympic Movement
. p. 51
- ^
Historical Significance of the Far Eastern Championship Games
[
permanent dead link
]
. Tsukuba University
- ^
a
b
"Report of the Organizing Committee on Its Work for the Xiith Olympic Games of 1940 in Tokyo Until the Relinquishment"
(PDF)
. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on March 5, 2014
. Retrieved
March 12,
2014
.
- ^
Sandra Collins.
The 1940 Tokyo Games: The Missing Olympics: Japan, the Asian Olympics and the Olympic Movement
. p. 144
- ^
Sandra Collins.
The 1940 Tokyo Games: The Missing Olympics: Japan, the Asian Olympics and the Olympic Movement
. p. 146
- ^
Sandra Collins.
The 1940 Tokyo Games: The Missing Olympics: Japan, the Asian Olympics and the Olympic Movement
. p. 149
- ^
橋本一夫『幻の東京オリンピック』(日本放送出版協?、1994年)
ISBN
4-14-001709-0
- ^
Sandra Collins.
The 1940 Tokyo Games: The Missing Olympics: Japan, the Asian Olympics and the Olympic Movement
. pp. 161–163
- ^
Zarnowski, C. Frank
(Summer 1992).
"A Look at Olympic Costs"
(PDF)
.
Citius, Altius, Fortius
.
1
(1): 16?32. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on May 28, 2008
. Retrieved
March 24,
2007
.
- ^
Welch, Ann (1980).
The Story of Gliding 2nd edition
.
John Murray
.
ISBN
0-7195-3659-6
.
- ^
"Glider design to be used at the 1940 Olympic Games"
. Retrieved
March 25,
2008
.
- ^
Ingle, Justin McCurry Sean (March 24, 2020).
"Tokyo Olympics postponed to 2021 due to coronavirus pandemic"
.
The Guardian
.
- ^
Grys, Iwona (April?May 1996).
"The Olympic Idea Transcending War"
(PDF)
.
Olympic Review
.
25
(8): 68?69.
Archived
(PDF)
from the original on September 10, 2008
. Retrieved
July 31,
2008
.
- ^
Ray Wagner; Heinz J. Nowarra (1971).
German Combat Planes
. Doubleday. p. 312.
References
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]
Further reading
[
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]
- International Journal of the History of Sport, vol. 24, 2007, No. 8,
Special Issue: The Missing Olympics: The 1940 Tokyo Games, Japan, Asia and the Olympic Movement