France At The 1936 Summer Olympics
France competed at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany. 201 competitors, 190 men and 11 women, took part in 100 events in 18 sports. It was notable for an incident during the opening ceremonies. During the March of the Nations (when each national team with its flag parades on the field), the entire French team gave a straight-arm salute as it passed the box of Adolf Hitler (head of state of the host country for that Olympics, Germany). The French flag was also dipped in such a way as to drag it in the dirt in front of Hitlers box. There was a storm of protest in France after the incident was reported there, and accusations were made that the French Olympic committee was pro-Nazi. The committee stated that the salute (resembling the salute of Germany's ruling Nazi party) was an 'Olympic salute', and that dipping the colors was a tradition. The incident is recorded in Leni Riefenstahl's 1938 film Olympia.
Read more about France At The 1936 Summer Olympics: Fencing, Modern Pentathlon
Famous quotes containing the words france and/or summer:
“The best of America drifts to Paris. The American in Paris is the best American. It is more fun for an intelligent person to live in an intelligent country. France has the only two things toward which we drift as we grow older—intelligence and good manners.”
—F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940)
“To see the Summer Sky
Is Poetry, though never in a Book it lie—
True Poems flee—”
—Emily Dickinson (1830–1886)