Olympic Aftermath

Before last month's Winter Olympic Games, the Amateur Athletic Union and the American Olympic Committee were stirred by bitter controversy as to whether the U. S. should send a team to Nazi Germany. While the games were going on, reports agreed that they were accompanied by controversies, disagreed as to how serious these were. Last week the games were reviewed by two responsible sports authorities who had seen them.

1) President Avery Brundage of the American Olympic Committee returning from Garmisch-Partenkirchen, declared in Manhattan: "Germany was very glad to have us at the games and the Government could not have done its part more fairly in living up to all agreements and every Olympic regulation. . . . The organization for the games was perfect. . . . They were remarkably free from bickering.

"Our team was applauded, but I can't say whether the applause was more or less than that received by any other nation. . . . The crowd was cheering individual favorites whom they recognized and teams smartly attired. . . . You know our uniforms weren't especially attractive. . . . Our team looked like a bunch of streetcar conductors. . . .

"It was a triumph for the Olympic movement. The Germans did not try to use the games as a vehicle for Nazi propaganda. . . ."

2) In Prague, Czechoslovakia, Columnist Westbrook Pegler summed up his impressions: ". . . The show served two very useful purposes. It prevented, for the time being at least, a brutal raid on the German Jews. ... It also vindicated the contention of those who opposed American participation that the Nazis could not be trusted to refrain from political and military propaganda. . . ."

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