The Programme Completed
Several important decisions of a sporting nature were made during the late summer of 1934, the outline of the programme of games and the plan for the athletic competitions being finally approved so that the preparation of the complete programme could begin. By December, 1934 the day and hour of every event in all of the 19 forms of sport had been definitely fixed, and few changes were made after this date. This was of vast importance from the point of view of organization because the dates and hours of commencement of the various events had to be decided upon before the printing of tickets could begin, and since in order to avoid attempts at counterfeiting these were to be printed on special security paper, a considerable amount of time had to be allowed for their production.
The Gymnastic Demonstrations
On the occasion of the Stockholm Congress of the International Athletic Federation in 1934 the leaders of the Swedish Gymnastic Federation expressed the desire, which was also in keeping with the Olympic regulations, to demonstrate their national form of gymnastics at Berlin by sending a group of 1,000 performers. We were heartily in favour of this suggestion because we did not wish to confine the German Olympic Festival merely to sporting competitions since the Games are in their most exalted sense a means of education and should for this reason be instructive in their
The gold chain for the members of the International Olympic Committee. Design: Walter E. Lemcke, Berlin.
nature. We endeavoured to achieve recognition for the Games of 1936 as an "Educative Festival" and were thus especially willing to grant the wish of the Swedish Gymnastic Federation. Supported as always by the generous hospitality and cooperation of the German Army, we were able to offer the Swedish gymnasts the extremely low price of 2.50 Reichsmarks per day for lodgings and meals at the military barracks at Dцberitz, and later granted the same accommodations to the other national gymnastic groups. Our negotiations with Sweden thus led to an early acceptance. We had naturally planned a gymnastic demonstration by a German team and had included this in the programme of the Marathon Day. Thus we were continuing a German tradition, since through a gymnastic demonstration at the Amsterdam Olympic Games the German Institute for Physical Training won general recognition and the International Olympic Committee awarded the Institute the "Coupe Olympique."
When the inclusion of the German and Swedish gymnastic demonstrations in the Olympic programme was announced we received other inquiries and were finally able to welcome seven national teams who presented their performances at the conclusion of the athletic competition on the various days. The spectators also evidenced great interest in these demonstrations, usually remaining in the Stadium until they were finished even though at times the long, exciting athletic competitions necessitated their being postponed until twilight.