Avery Brundage’s Life and Work in the Olympic Movement

Movement

In a previous section, Avery Brundage and the IOC’s Position on Race and Sport, an account was provided outlining Brundage’s life and involvement in the IOC. However, even though I, and many others, 122 _{have profiled Brundage, it is worth briefly} highlighting three authors who have examined the life of Avery Brundage.

In an extremely flattering book, Heinz Schöbel (East Germany’s [DDR] first IOC member) explored the four dimensions of Brundage: sportsman, sports leader, construction engineer, and art lover and collector.123 _{Schöbel chronicled Brundage’s} young life as a good student and athlete devoted to both pursuits equally. After his career as an athlete, peaking as the United States all-round champion in athletics, Brundage began participating in the administrative side of sport. His work in the United States garnered much attention at the international level, where he became Vice President of the IOC in 1945 and President in 1952. Being aligned with Coubertin’s ideals for the Olympic Movement, he seemed to be the perfect fit for the job of IOC President. Schöbel painted Brundage as a President who fostered international growth of the IOC and development of domestic NOCs, while his ideals were anchored in fair play, sportsmanship, and amateurism. Published in 1968 while Brundage was still IOC President, Schöbel’s work was a favourable, positive interpretation of Brundage’s presence on the international sports scene, best categorized as hagiography.

A biographical work about Brundage completed by Allen Guttmann in 1984 is the seminal reference on issues related to Brundage.124 _{The detail and breadth of} Guttmann’s work advances far beyond Schöbel’s effort. Guttmann chronicled Brundage’s every step, from his humble beginning in Detroit to his death in a German hospital on 8 May 1975. Guttmann seemingly constructed the Brundage narrative from an objective viewpoint, highlighting both negative and positive aspects of Brundage’s life. Some of Brundage’s more controversial moments included the inclusion of the Soviet Union in the Olympic Movement and trying to keep South Africa

and Rhodesia involved as well. Furthermore, a chapter was dedicated to the Nazi Olympics, which discussed Brundage’s controversial support of Germany and, as a result, being labeled as an anti-Semite.125 _{Guttmann also included a large section on} the South African issue, which detailed Brundage’s struggle to keep South Africa in the Olympic Movement. His efforts became so strong, he eventually was labeled as anti-black, as well.

These two immediate examples of Brundage maintaining his firm stance of keeping politics and the Olympic Games separate can be seen as one of Brundage’s positive characteristics. For the most part, although one might not favour Brundage’s stances, he was consistent even during stressful, controversial situations. Not only did he have strong views on the separation of politics and the Olympic Games, he also supported amateurism and non-commercialism in the Games. Above all, Brundage considered the Olympic Movement as a ‘secular religion’ which all affiliated with the IOC had to support. When in power, Brundage’s perception of Coubertin’s ideals led the decision-making of the IOC and he made sure he was surrounded by those who shared the same perception of Olympism. It was not until his last term as President that he lost control of the IOC.

There was only one other person who could possibly offer a more concise biography of Avery Brundage. Maynard Brichford was the leader of the team responsible for processing the Avery Brundage Collection (ABC) in 1975 at the University of Illinois.126 _{Brichford did not write a complete Brundage biography, but} he has written a variety of articles based on ABC materials. Brichford considered eight aspects of Brundage’s life – student, engineer, financier, athlete, sports official,

ideologue, public symbol, and collector.127 _{Although Brichford did discuss each in his} publications, two aspects specific to Brichford’s work garnered particular attention: Brundage’s ‘internationalization’ of the Olympic Games,128 _{and his stance on} racism.129

Brundage’s contribution to the international growth of the Olympic Movement was rarely celebrated in the literature. Brichford mentioned, “In 1960 alone, seventeen new nations emerged in Africa. Brundage presided over the first Olympic Games in Australia, Asia and Latin America, played a major role in establishing the Pan-American Games, and attended the first African Games.”130 _{Even though} Brundage was severely criticized for this focus on internationalism, he continued to include countries in the Olympic Movement regardless of domestic and international politics. Unfortunately, Brundage’s perceived negative actions drew attention away from the much more positive actions which benefited the Olympic Movement. One recurring controversial theme was how Brundage dealt with racism. The Olympic Charter clearly stated that racism was not to be tolerated within the Olympic Movement. However, for Brundage, this ideal clearly clashed with the ideal of a non- political Olympic Movement environment. Unfortunately, Brundage seemed to focus more on making sure the Olympic Games remained non-political, which clouded his judgement when evaluating domestic racism as a violation of the Olympic Charter.

The biographical literature on Brundage helped identify what type of characteristics made up his personality and how those characteristics could have affected his decisions and proclamations when acting as the IOC President. How he dealt with the South African issue is the focus of this study. So, too, was how he reacted

to challenges relative to consideration of the state of sport and racism in South Africa during his tenure as IOC President.