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:
“It is not enough that France should be regarded as a country which enjoys the remains of a freedom acquired long ago. If she is still to count in the world—and if she does not intend to, she may as well perish—she must be seen by her own citizens and by all men as an ever-flowing source of liberty. There must not be a single genuine lover of freedom in the whole world who can have a valid reason for hating France.”
—Simone Weil (1909–1943)
“As imperceptibly as Grief
The Summer lapsed away—”
—Emily Dickinson (1830–1886)