The Naked Olympiad

Edouard Fankhauser, president of the Swiss Nudist Club, regards the Helsinki Olympics as a "travesty." Said he last week: "The ancient athletes performed in the nude . . . It would be so much better if the youth of the world . . . remained faithful to the old ideals." So saying, Nudist Fankhauser stepped back inside the barb-wired camp on the shore of Switzerland's Lake of Neuchatel, where some 50 naked men & women from six European countries were competing in "the real Olympiad." U.S. nudists (TIME, Aug. 25) were invited, but decided not to take off for Europe.

Barred spectators, shivering in a cold rain, tried to follow events with binoculars from distant trees, but caught only glimpses of the sniffly athletes as they jounced and bounced through shoeless track and field contests. The peekers noted that even bathing caps were ruled out of the 50-yd. breaststroke event. But until President Fankhauser saw fit to announce the results, no treetop spectator could know who had won what. Not even programs would help, because it was difficult to tell one unnumbered performer from another.

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