United Team of Germany at the Olympics

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United Team of Germany at the
Olympics
Flag of the German Olympic Team (1960-1968).svg
"Olympic" Flag of Germany,
defaced with white Olympic rings,
used 1960, 1964 (and 1968 by separated teams)
IOC code EUA
Medals
Ranked 36th
Gold
36
Silver
60
Bronze
41
Total
137
Summer appearances
Winter appearances
Other related appearances
Flag of Germany.svg  Germany (1896–1936, 1952, 1992–)
Flag of Saar (1947-1956).svg  Saar (1952)
Flag of East Germany.svg  East Germany (1968–1988)
Flag of Germany.svg  West Germany (1968–1988)

The United Team of Germany (German : Gesamtdeutsche Mannschaft) was a combined team of athletes from West Germany and East Germany that competed in the 1956, 1960 and 1964 Winter and Summer Olympic Games. In 1956, the team also included athletes from a third Olympic body, the Saarland Olympic Committee, which had sent a separate team in 1952, but in 1956 was in the process of joining the German National Olympic Committee. This process was completed in February 1957 after the admission of Saarland into West Germany.

Contents

History

Medal of honour - cast-bronze - German Democratic Republic - "Gesamtdeutsche Olympiamannschaft - Melbourne 1956" Grosse Bronzeguss Ehrenmedaillie - Meissen - Gesamtdeutsche Olympiamannschaft - Melbourne 1956 - vermutlicher Prototyp vor Porzellanausfuhrung von Meissen - in kleiner Form und kleiner Auflage - Frontseite - Bild 001.jpg
Medal of honour – cast-bronze – German Democratic Republic – "Gesamtdeutsche Olympiamannschaft – Melbourne 1956"

As East Germany had introduced its own national anthem in 1949, Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 melody to Schiller's Ode an die Freude ("Ode to Joy") was played for winning German athletes as a compromise. In 1959, East Germany also introduced an altered black-red-gold tricolour flag of Germany as the flag of East Germany. Thus, a compromise had to be made also for the flag of the unified sports team. It was agreed upon to superimpose the plain flag with additional white Olympic rings. This flag was used from 1960 to 1968. [1]

At the Games of 1956, 1960 and 1964 the team was simply known as "Germany" and the usual country code of GER was used, except at Innsbruck in 1964, when the Austrian hosts used the German language "D" for Deutschland. [2] Yet, the IOC code EUA (from the official French International Olympic Committee (IOC) designation Équipe Unifiée d'Allemagne) is currently applied retrospectively in the IOC medal database, without further explanation given. Only in 1976 did the IOC start to assign standardized codes. Before that time, the local Organizing Committees of each Olympic Games had chosen codes, often in the local language, resulting in a multitude of codes.

In the 1968 Winter Olympics, East and West German athletes competed as separate teams while still using the compromise Olympic flag and Beethoven anthem. While today listed under the IOC codes of FRG (West) and GDR (East), respectively, in 1968 they were asymmetrically called in French Allemagne (Germany) and Allemagne de l'Est (East Germany), and in Spanish Alemania and Alemania del Este. The codes for Germany (West) were ALL (in Grenoble) and ALE (in Mexico City), and ADE for East Germany. Despite using the same flag as each other, the two delegations did not march as one team in the Parade of Nations (unlike, for example, North and South Korea at the 2000 Summer Olympics Parade of Nations) and each bore a separate instance of the compromise flag. Due to the naming, the two teams marched adjacently. [3] [ better source needed ]

The separation was completed at the 1972 Winter Olympics with the use of separate flags and anthems. While East Germany would march under their official name "German Democratic Republic" from then onward, West Germany would continue to march under the name "Germany" in 1972 and 1976, switching to their official name "Federal Republic of Germany" from 1980 onward. [2] As a result, the two countries would march adjacent to each other during the 1972 Winter Olympics (in English alphabetical order) [4] and the 1976 Winter Olympics (in German). [5] However, the two countries did not march adjacently during the 1972 Summer Olympics (because West Germany marched last as host) or the 1976 Summer Olympics (due to French order Allemagne and République Démocratique Allemande). By coincidence, the two countries would march adjacently one last time during the 1988 Summer Olympics, due to Korean alphabetical order. East Germany ceased to exist in 1990, when its five states, together with Berlin, joined West Germany in German reunification.

Participation

Timeline of participation

Olympic
year/s
team
1896–1912Flag of the German Empire.svgGermany (GER)
1920–1924denied participation after WWI
1928–1932Flag of Germany (3-2 aspect ratio).svgGermany (GER)
1936Flag of Germany (1935-1945).svg
1948occupied country after WWII:
former German Olympic Committee
was dissolved
1952Flag of Germany.svgGermany (GER)
Flag of Saar (1947-1956).svg Saar (SAA)

Flag of East Germany.svgEast Germany
did not participate
1956–1964German Olympic flag (1959-1968).svgUnited Team of Germany (EUA)
1968–1988Flag of Germany.svg Germany (FRG)Flag of East Germany.svg East Germany (GDR)
since 1992     (GER)

Medal tables

See also

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Winter Olympic Games</span> Major international multi-sport event

The Winter Olympic Games is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were held in Chamonix, France. The modern Olympic Games were inspired by the ancient Olympic Games, which were held in Olympia, Greece, from 776 BCE to 394 CE. The Baron Pierre de Coubertin of France founded the International Olympic Committee (IOC) 1,500 years later in 1894, leading to the first modern Summer Olympic Games in Athens, Greece in 1896. The IOC is the governing body of the Olympic Movement, with the Olympic Charter defining its structure and authority. The original five Winter Olympic Sports were bobsleigh, curling, ice hockey, Nordic skiing, and skating. The Games were held every four years from 1924 to 1936, interrupted in 1940 and 1944 by World War II, and resumed in 1948. Until 1992, the Summer Olympic Games and the Winter Olympic Games were held in the same year. A decision to change this was made in 1986, when during the 91st International Olympic Committee session, IOC members decided to alternate the Summer Olympic Games and the Winter Olympic Games on separate four-year cycles in even-numbered years. Also, at that same congress it was decided that 1992 Winter Olympics would be the last to be held in the same year as the Summer Games and that to change the rotation, the games that would be held in 1996 would be brought forward by two years, being scheduled to 1994. After those games, the next were to be held in 1998 when the four-year Olympic Cycle resumed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1976 Summer Olympics</span> Multi-sport event in Montreal, Canada

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">1956 Summer Olympics</span> Multi-sport event in Melbourne, Australia

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">1968 Winter Olympics</span> Multi-sport event in Grenoble, France

The 1968 Winter Olympics, officially known as the X Olympic Winter Games, were a winter multi-sport event held from 6 to 18 February 1968 in Grenoble, France. Thirty-seven countries participated.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1960 Winter Olympics</span> Multi-sport event in Squaw Valley, California, US

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saar at the 1952 Summer Olympics</span> Sporting event delegation

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Germany at the Summer Olympics</span> Sporting event delegation

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">All-time Olympic Games medal table</span> List of medals won by Olympic delegations

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">East Germany at the Olympics</span> Sporting event delegation

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Germany at the Winter Olympics</span> Sporting event delegation

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Germany at the Olympics</span> Sporting event delegation

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chinese Taipei at the Olympics</span> Sporting event delegation

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Independent Olympians at the Olympic Games</span> Sporting event delegation

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Olympic Committee of the GDR</span>

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References

  1. "The German Olympic flag – Flag in Lexicon and Shop". www.flaggenlexikon.de. Retrieved 29 May 2022.
  2. 1 2 Mallon, Bill; Ove Karlsson (May 2004). "IOC and OCOG Abbreviations for NOCs" (PDF). Journal of Olympic History . 12 (2): 25–28. Retrieved 9 June 2008.
  3. Olympics (25 February 2015). The Full Grenoble 1968 Winter Olympic Film | Olympic History . Retrieved 13 August 2024 via YouTube.
  4. weekend work for (5 August 2018). Olimpic winter Games in sapporo 1972 ~ 札幌オリンピック記録映画 . Retrieved 13 August 2024 via YouTube.
  5. TF Filmarchiv (26 August 2009). ✘ INNSBRUCK 1976 Eröffnungsfeier / Opening Ceremony (Amateuraufnamen/Amateur Footage) . Retrieved 13 August 2024 via YouTube.