Germany at the Olympic Games: history, organization, and notable moments

Germany's Olympic history began before 1894, for excavations of ancient Olympia have been led by German archaeologists since 1875. However, the finds there were less spectacular than those at Pergamon, Troy and other sites. Due to the tense relationship with France, there was little sympathy in Germany for the initiative of the Frenchman Pierre de Coubertin to hold new Olympic Games of the modern era in his home city of Paris, of all places, instead of in his native Greece or, as a kind of travelling circus, on a rotating international basis.

German gymnasts had not been invited to the founding of the International Olympic Committee in 1894 at the Sorbonne in Paris. Coubertin had invited sports federations from all over the world, but allegedly could not find out the address of what was then the world's largest gymnastics federation from a German point of view. The resulting mistrust contributed significantly to the rejection of the Olympic idea in wide circles of German sport.

According to the German press, Pierre de Coubertin is said to have said that he kept Germany away "perhaps on purpose", as this would directly keep out a potential disruptive factor. Although he was also influenced by Franco-German enmity, he had no desire for revanchism. In order to achieve the goal of "All Games - All Nations", Germany, which was also an important nation in terms of sport, could not be blocked from joining the Olympic movement in the long term.

The most important advocate of the Olympic idea in Germany was Willibald Gebhardt. His efforts to secure Germany's participation in the first Olympic Games in Athens in 1896 were marked by fierce opposition, especially from the German Gymnastics Federation (DT). He owed his admission to the IOC mainly to the intercession of the then IOC President Dimitrios Vikelas, who was able to convince Coubertin of the importance of a German representative.

German criticism of the Olympic movement

The majority of German sports officials rejected involvement in international competitions in favour of domestic ones. For example, F. A. Schmidt, the chairman of the Central Committee for People's and Youth Games, said: "Let the international attempts at unification develop as they will: what we need above all is to present and fight side by side and among each other on our German soil, not international but truly national competitions". The statement shows that one wanted to distinguish oneself from other nations on the sporting level. In addition, there was the statement "Clear the way for the German Olympics", which indicates the planned establishment of a national parallel movement, which later led to the German Combat Games.

Foundation of the National Olympic Committee

On 13 December 1895, at the instigation of Willibald Gebhardt, a National Olympic Committee was founded in the hotel "Zu den vier Jahreszeiten" in Berlin. Hereditary Prince Philipp Ernst zu Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst assumed the presidency of the committee, Albert von Schleswig-Holstein became vice-president, and Gebhardt became secretary. However, the organisation had financial difficulties, so that it was not until shortly before participation in the first Summer Olympic Games that an advertising event in the Kroll Halls secured funding for participation.

In the initial era of the Olympic Games, the following six games were held:

• 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens
• Summer Olympics 1900 in Paris
• 1904 Summer Olympics in St. Louis
• Olympic Intermediate Games 1906 in Athens
• 1908 Summer Olympics in London
• 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm

At the first Summer Olympics in Athens in 1896, Germany participated with the second largest team, which, however, consisted of only 21 athletes. The German Olympic team, which was not supported by the German Gymnastics Federation, provided the most successful athlete of the first Games in Carl Schuhmann. He won the disciplines of wrestling and vaulting and was a member of the parallel bars and high bar teams, which also won their disciplines. The two successful teams also included the Berliners Alfred Flatow and Gustav Felix Flatow. The two Jewish cousins were persecuted by the National Socialists and died in the Theresienstadt ghetto in 1942 and 1945. Apart from August Gödrich's second place in the cycling marathon and Friedrich Adolf Traun's second place in the tennis doubles, all German medals in Athens were won by gymnasts. Hermann Weingärtner won the individual competition on high bar and the team competitions on high bar and parallel bars. He won second places on rings and pommel horse. He also came third in the individual competition on parallel bars. This made him the most successful athlete of the Games in terms of total number of medals.

The 1900 Olympic Games in Paris were again boycotted by the German Gymnastics Federation as Pierre de Coubertin's home games. In addition, they did not want to travel to the capital of their arch-enemy. Chauvinist graffiti on the German team's accommodation and provocations in their direction can also be traced back to this enmity. Despite the declaration of boycott, individual gymnasts were again prepared to break the strike. However, they were unable to win a medal in the only gymnastics competition held, the individual all-around, where French gymnasts dominated on both sides of the scoreboard. On the other hand, the German swimmers won the medal this time. Other medals were contributed by Martin Wiesner, who won the regatta in the one to two ton class with his yacht Aschenbrödel and came second in the honour race, as well as the victorious rowers in the coxless four. The Frankfurt football club's second place in the Olympic rugby tournament is a special feature, as the Germans lost to the hosts France in the only match of the tournament.

The need for a permanent national body that would be responsible for the concerns of a German participation in the Olympic Games became essential. In 1903, at the renewed instigation of Willibald Gebhardt, a committee was initially founded for the Olympic Games in St. Louis in 1904. After the "Zentralausschuss für Volks- und Jugendspiele" (Central Committee for People's and Youth Games) could be convinced to participate, the name of the committee was changed to Deutscher Reichsausschuss für Olympische Spiele (DRAfOS) at a meeting in December 1903. Gebhardt was elected to the position of managing director and first secretary. Count Egbert von der Asseburg assumed the presidency.

In 1904 in St. Louis, the Germans provided the largest European team with 17 participants. IOC President Pierre de Coubertin did not travel to the USA, he was represented by Willibald Gebhardt, who was also the Germans' "Chef de Mission". With four gold, four silver and four bronze medals, Germany was second in the medal table behind the host USA.

Germany sent 47 athletes to the 1906 Olympic Intermediate Games in Athens, which were to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Games, as well as some Olympic champions from 1896 such as Alfred Flatow and Carl Schuhmann as guests of honour. Fifteen medals were won. One gold medal was won by the unbeatable tug-of-war team. The participating gymnasts, on the other hand, were once again disappointing. This disgraceful performance prompted the gymnastics officials to abandon their boycott in order not to let the reputation of the German gymnasts be further damaged. Since the participation of individual athletes could not be prevented, from now on the best gymnasts were allowed to compete. Despite this rapprochement of the gymnasts with the Olympic movement, the final reconciliation was to be forced only by the "Gleichschaltung" of the National Socialists.

At the fourth official Summer Olympics in London in 1908, the best German gymnasts thus took part for the first time, but only for demonstration purposes. German athletes achieved a total of 14 medals here. At the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, German athletes achieved 25 medals, but again none in gymnastics.

Before the First World War, games were awarded to Germany:

• 1916 Summer Olympics in Berlin

Already at the beginning of the century, there had been efforts to bring the Olympic Games to Germany. However, the lack of a proper stadium also stood in the way. So the bid had to be postponed again and again. In 1913, the German Stadium in Berlin's Grunewald was opened by Kaiser Wilhelm II.

The construction of the stadium laid the foundation for the bid. In 1912, Berlin prevailed over Alexandria, Amsterdam, Brussels, Budapest and Cleveland in the awarding of the Games. The organisation was led by the Hussar general and former Prussian minister Victor von Podbielski, who had been chairman of the German Reich Committee for Olympic Games since 1909, and his secretary general Carl Diem. More than 400 sponsors had been found for the 1916 Olympic Games. Due to the events resulting from the Sarajevo assassination, which led to an unexpectedly long war, the Games were cancelled. However, they were not officially cancelled.

The following Olympic Games were held between 1920 and 1932:

Without German participation

• 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp
• 1924 Winter Olympics in Chamonix
• 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris

With German participation

• 1928 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz
• 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam
• 1932 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid
• 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles

After the defeat in the First World War, it was decided in the context of the Paris Preliminary Agreements not to allow Germany and its allies to take part in the 1920 Summer Olympics, regardless of the changes of power that had taken place there in the meantime and the establishment of democratic republics. This particularly affected Budapest, which had once been set as the venue, and which was deprived of the Games in favour of Antwerp. When the first Winter Olympics took place in 1924 and the Summer Games in Paris for the second time, the ex-allies were allowed to participate again. Germany alone remained excluded from the Games (and continued to be partially occupied by France (Ruhr occupation)).

As early as 1917, the German Reich Committee for Olympic Games had been replaced by the German Reich Committee for Physical Exercise (DRA, DRAfL), which was the umbrella organisation for sport in Germany during the Weimar Republic. The DRA responded to the exclusion from the Olympic Games by organising German Combat Games. The fighting games were held every four years between 1922 and 1930 as winter and summer games.

In 1925, the national sports umbrella organisation and the Olympic Committee separated: the German Olympic Committee (DOA) split off from the DRA and pushed for Germany's readmission to the Olympic Games. At the 1928 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz, ten years after the end of the war, Germany returned to the Olympic family. This German premiere at Winter Games was not very successful with a bronze medal. In contrast, participation in the Summer Games in Amsterdam was a complete success with eleven gold, nine silver and 19 bronze medals.

In May 1930, the ninth plenary session of the International Olympic Committee was held in Berlin before the 1936 Olympic Games were awarded to Germany in Barcelona in 1931.

In 1932 in Los Angeles, the German athletes collected 20 medals. In addition, Franz and Toni Schmid were honoured with the Olympic mountaineering prize Prix olympique d'alpinisme for the first ascent of the north side of the Matterhorn.

During the Nazi dictatorship, only the 1936 Olympic Games were held:

• 1936 Winter Olympics in Garmisch-Partenkirchen
• 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin

Other games fell victim to the Second World War:

• 1940 Winter Olympics in Sapporo (alternatively awarded to St. Moritz and later to Garmisch-Partenkirchen)
• Summer Olympics 1940 in Tokyo (alternatively awarded to Helsinki)
• 1944 Winter Olympics in Cortina d'Ampezzo
• 1944 Summer Olympics in London

In 1936, the Summer Olympics took place in Berlin, the Winter Olympics in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Both Games were awarded to Germany on 13 May 1931, still during the Weimar Republic. Adolf Hitler originally had no interest in the Games, but was convinced by Joseph Goebbels of their propaganda effect. In order not to jeopardise this effect, repression against Jews was restricted and cosmopolitanism was feigned. The main venue was the Reichssportfeld with the Olympic Stadium, which could seat 100,000 spectators, the swimming stadium and the Dietrich Eckart open-air stage. The German organisers also held the first torch relay in Olympic history. The last runner to light the Olympic flame was Fritz Schilgen. As the teams marched in, several saluted with the "Olympic salute", which was later often misunderstood as the Hitler salute.

In sporting terms, the 1936 Summer Olympics brought great German success. Hans Woellke won the first gold medal in athletics by winning the shot put. Karl Hein subsequently won the hammer throw and Gerhard Stöck the javelin throw. The German gymnasts were among the most successful athletes at the Games. Konrad Frey was the most successful medallist. He won gold in the all-around with the team, on the side horse and parallel bars, silver on high bar and on floor, as well as bronze in the all-around individual. In addition, Alfred Schwarzmann won five medals, two of which were gold in the twelve-man event and in the horse jump. Werner Seelenbinder, the favoured wrestler, only came fourth in the light heavyweight Greco-Roman event. He had joined the KPD in 1928 and was sentenced to death by the People's Court in 1944 for allegedly supporting a KPD courier. In the women's javelin throw, the Germans Tilly Fleischer and Luise Krüger won a double victory. The successful German women track and field athletes won a medal in every event except the 4-by-100-metre relay. The relay team was in the lead until the last changeover when Marie Dollinger dropped the baton.

Legends long surrounded Hitler's presence and his congratulations to German athletes and his alleged refusal to congratulate non-German winners. After he had paid his respects to German Olympic winners on the first day, it was suggested that he congratulate everyone or no one, whereupon he refrained from further appearances. Moreover, in his presence, the German football team lost and was eliminated.

The black American Jesse Owens made sports history: he was the first track and field athlete to win four gold medals at the Olympic Games (100 m, long jump, 200 m, and 4 × 100 m relay). In the long jump, Owens was in danger of failing in the qualification after two failed attempts. German Luz Long, who was in the lead at the time with a new Olympic record, tipped him off, whereupon Owens qualified and eventually won gold, while only silver remained for Long.

It was in this era that these Olympic Games took place:

• 1948 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz
• 1948 Summer Olympics in London
• Winter Olympics 1952 in Oslo
• Summer Olympics 1952 in Helsinki
• 1956 Winter Olympics in Cortina d'Ampezzo
• 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne
• 1960 Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley
• 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome
• 1964 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck
• 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo
• 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble
• 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City
• 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo
• 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich
• 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck
• 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal
• 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid
• 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow
• 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo
• 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles
• 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary
• 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul

The reorganisation of the Olympic Movement in Germany

After the end of the Second World War, the Allied Control Council issued Directive No. 23 on 17 December 1945, which dissolved all sports organisations. In November 1946, Carl Diem applied to the American military government in Frankfurt am Main for permission to re-establish a National Olympic Committee, but this was refused. Since a separate NOC was a prerequisite for participation in the 1948 Olympic Games, a provisional German Olympic Committee was founded on 7 June 1947. The IOC did not recognise this committee as a German NOC, as the territory of Germany was still divided into four Allied occupation zones at that time and thus did not represent a recognised state. As a result, Germany was not invited to the 1948 Games.

Another reason for Germany's exclusion was its role as a trigger of the Second World War. Especially the important former war opponents Great Britain, France (from 1939) and the Soviet Union and USA (from 1941) had no great interest in its participation. Nevertheless, Carl Diem, who was a friend of IOC President Sigfrid Edström, and Helmut Bantz indirectly took part in the Games. Bantz, a gymnast, looked after the British gymnasts as a prisoner of war.

After the beginning of the Cold War and the founding of the Federal Republic of Germany in May 1949, the West German National Olympic Committee for Germany was founded in Bonn on 24 September 1949. The first chairman was the IOC member Adolf Friedrich Herzog zu Mecklenburg. Based in the Federal Republic of Germany, the NOK regarded itself as the Olympic representative for the whole of Germany within the framework of its claim to sole representation, although German-German differences intensified after the founding of the GDR on 7 October 1949. These also manifested themselves in the formation of a separate National Olympic Committee for East Germany on 22 April 1951, after the representatives of the GDR had not been able to get through with their proposal for an all-German NOK.

In 1950, the IOC recommended that Germany (i.e. the NOK based in the Federal Republic) be admitted and participate in the Olympic Games in 1952. The Saarland had already been granted both its own NOK recognised by the IOC and its own FIFA membership in 1950.

The IOC accepted the West German NOK for Germany during a session between 7 and 9 May 1951. The application submitted later by the East German NOC, which had been formed only weeks earlier, was rejected on the formal grounds that a country could not be represented by two national Olympic associations. At the same time, the IOC called on the two German committees to negotiate immediately on an all-German NOC and a joint team for the Olympic Games. With the "Lausanne Agreement" of 22 May 1951, the negotiating delegations agreed on a solution according to which, in accordance with the IOC rules, there could only be one NOC, and that would be the West German one. Furthermore, the communiqué states that a joint team was to be formed for the 1952 Olympic Games, for which the NOK West would be responsible according to the majority of votes. On 6 September 1951, however, the East German NOK, led by Kurt Edel, cancelled the agreement, as the GDR leadership felt that the result of the negotiations did not even meet their minimal demands for equal rights for the NOKs in the team formation. No agreement was reached in the following negotiations. On 8 February 1952, when a conference between the two NOCs and IOC members was planned in Copenhagen, the GDR officials kept the IOC members waiting, which led to the talks not starting. The GDR's athletes did not take part in the Winter Olympics in Oslo.

Otherwise, a first participation of the western part of Germany after the war was successful, although concerns about the occupation in Norway had been expressed in advance. However, the Norwegians gave the German team a fair sporting welcome. Germany took fourth place in the national rankings. Andreas Ostler's two-man and four-man bobsleds won gold, as did Ria Baran and Paul Falk, who took first place in pairs figure skating. Since the question of the German national anthem was not settled until 29 April 1952, the melody of the Deutschlandlied did not sound at the award ceremonies, but the main theme Ode to Joy from the fourth movement of Ludwig van Beethoven's 9th Symphony.

At the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, the equestrian Fritz Thiedemann began his career with two bronze medals. In addition, gymnast Alfred Schwarzmann, who had already been successful in 1936, won silver on the high bar. In addition to the team of the NOK for Germany, to which no GDR athletes were sent, the Saarland also took part in the Olympic Games for the first and last time as an independent NOK with its own team. Although the 36 athletes from Saarland who were sent did not win a medal, some did four years later as part of the all-German team.

All-German Team

The Soviet Union tried several times to have the NOK of the GDR admitted to the IOC, but these initiatives failed because of IOC President Avery Brundage. The NOK for Germany, based in the FRG, insisted on the claim to sole representation for Germany, and thus also for East Germany. By 1956, the sports officials of the GDR had achieved that the GDR sports federations were accepted into almost all important international sports federations. However, Brundage continued to rely on the model of a united German team. The provisional admission of the GDR to the IOC took place on 17 June 1955 by 27 votes to 7 only on the condition that GDR athletes and athletes from the FRG formed a joint team for 1956. The President of the NOK for East Germany, Heinz Schöbel, agreed to this compromise.

At the Olympic Winter Games in February 1956 in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, GDR athletes were able to take part in the Games as part of an all-German team for the first time. However, the composition of the Olympic squad was decided by elimination competitions within Germany. The ski jumper Harry Glaß surprisingly won the bronze medal at the Games and was thus the first medallist from the GDR.

The all-German team for the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne was put together without elimination competitions. With six gold medals, sixth place was achieved in the unofficial medal table. The first gold medal for the GDR was won by the amateur boxer Wolfgang Behrendt. Due to the special political situation, he received two congratulatory telegrams from German heads of state, one from Federal President Theodor Heuss and one from the President of the GDR, Wilhelm Pieck. At the equestrian competitions, which were held in Stockholm for quarantine reasons, an all-women team competed for the first time for Germany in the dressage with Liselott Linsenhoff, Hannelore Weygand and Annelise Küppers. The German show jumper Hans Günter Winkler won gold in the individual jumping competition despite a serious injury sustained in the first round, as Halla carried him clear over the course in the second round. Since the results of the individual jumping also counted towards the team score, the unexpected success of Winkler and Halla also meant gold for the leading German team.

After the GDR had introduced its own state flag in 1959 by adding socialist symbols to black, red and gold, a dispute arose over which flag the athletes should march in behind at the 1960 Olympic Games. After much wrangling, it was agreed on black-red-gold with white Olympic rings. In 1960, for the first time, there were all-German elimination competitions for the Summer Olympics. Whereas in Germany East and West it was traditionally the federation that set up the teams (but no selector could be agreed upon), the American system of mandatory Olympic elimination competitions was proposed and enforced by Brundage, whereby the team that had the majority of athletes in the team was to provide the Chef de Mission. At the Summer Games in Rome, Armin Hary became the first German sprinter to win gold in the 100 metres. As the US relay team was disqualified due to two changeover errors, the German 4-by-100-metre relay team with Armin Hary, Bernd Cullmann, Walter Mahlendorf and Martin Lauer also won. The German rowers won three gold medals, also with the prestigious German eight. The mixed single kayak relay team of Paul Lange, Friedhelm Wentzke (both FRG), Günter Perleberg and Dieter Krause (both GDR) also won gold.

Officials on both sides tried to reach compromises, but when it came to contentious issues, it was often the IOC that had to decide. Due to the influential IOC member Karl Ritter von Halt, who was a friend of IOC President Brundage, the West German position usually carried more weight. In 1961, Willi Daume took over the leadership of the NOK for Germany from Karl Ritter von Halt, thus losing close contact with the IOC leadership. This brought the admission of the GDR as a full IOC member closer. With the construction of the Berlin Wall, the antagonisms between East and West intensified further. Members of the German Sports Federation were forbidden to travel to the GDR and invite athletes from there to the Federal Republic. As a result, the participation of an all-German team in the 1964 Olympic Games became so doubtful that the Swiss IOC member Albert Mayer intervened as a mediator. In December 1962, the two German NOCs negotiated Mayer's proposal not to hold any elimination bouts and to compete as two separate teams with their own flag and anthem. With this solution, the all-German team was saved for the last time. However, this decision was made in the absence of IOC President Brundage, who subsequently scheduled a new hearing on the issue. The result of this negotiation on 8 March 1963 revised the previous decision and once again determined an all-German team.

At the 1964 Winter Games in Innsbruck, figure skaters Marika Kilius and Hans-Jürgen Bäumler were the focus of German interest. They had beaten the Soviet pair Lyudmila Beloussova/Oleg Protopopov eleven times in the run-up to the Olympic Games, but now only came second behind them in Innsbruck. Manfred Schnelldorfer won gold in men's figure skating. The GDR's sports promotion programme, which had begun, allowed for more starting places, so that the GDR athletes made up the majority of the all-German team in Tokyo and the GDR's NOK was allowed to provide the "Chef de Mission". This function was taken over by the later NOK President Manfred Ewald. Willi Holdorf won the first German gold medal in the decathlon. In addition, East Berliner Karin Balzer won gold in the 80-metre hurdles, the first athletics gold medal for the GDR. In addition, the sailor Willi Kuhweide won in the Finn dinghy.

At the 63rd IOC Session in Madrid, an independent GDR team was admitted. However, the fact that West Berlin athletes were to be part of the West German team offered potential for conflict. As a result, two separate German teams competed at the 1968 Olympic Games, but both still had the flag with the Olympic rings and the Ode to Joy as their anthem in common. The GDR and FRG did not present themselves completely independently until 1972.

In Mexico City, backstroke swimmer Roland Matthes won two gold medals. In addition, Margitta Gummel in the shot put and boxer Manfred Wolke won for the GDR, which clearly dominated the German-German Olympic comparison with a total of nine gold medals and fifth place in the medal table. The FRG came ninth with five gold medals. The team of the Federal German NOK provided the oldest winner of these Olympic Games with the Olympic champion Josef Neckermann in the dressage team, who was 56 years old. The rowing eight and Ingrid Becker also won gold in the pentathlon.

Summer Olympics in Munich

During the 1965 IOC Session in Madrid, at which the GDR NOK was accepted as a full member, the President of the West German NOK for Germany, Willi Daume, came up with the idea of bringing the 1972 Summer Olympics to Germany. Daume spoke to the then mayor of Berlin, Willy Brandt, and asked him to ask Berlin not to host the Games, since the IOC would not have awarded them to the divided city. Brandt supported Daume's proposal to put Munich in the running, and Munich Mayor Hans-Jochen Vogel also agreed. In April 1966, the 1972 Summer Olympics were awarded to the Bavarian capital.

As host, Germany wanted to distinguish itself from the Olympic Games under the National Socialists. That is why the working formula was 36 + 36 not equal to 72. The Olympic Park and other sports facilities (such as the Augsburg Ice Canal) were newly built for the 1972 Summer Games and retained their world-class standard afterwards.

The Munich Games were the first Summer Games in which the teams of the GDR and the FRG participated completely independently of each other. The GDR reached third position in the medal table with 20 gold medals, ahead of the FRG with 13 gold medals. Athletics was dominated by German women. Ulrike Meyfarth, only 16 years old, won gold in the high jump with a world record height of 1.92 metres. Heide Rosendahl won the long jump with 6.78 metres and, together with Annegret Richter, Ingrid Mickler-Becker and Christiane Krause, also the 4-by-100-metre relay. The relay won the prestige duel against the women of the GDR. Renate Stecher from Jena won the 100 and 200 metres with a world record. Except for the 1500 metres, German women won all the running events. Ruth Fuchs, a German, also won the gold medal in the javelin throw. The men, on the other hand, were not so successful. Bernd Kannenberg, a sergeant major in the German Armed Forces, won the 50-kilometre walk and Peter Frenkel from Thuringia won the 20-kilometre race. Klaus Wolfermann won the javelin throw with a throw only two centimetres longer than the Soviet favourite Jānis Lūsis. Wolfgang Nordwig from Jena won gold in the pole vault.

The FRG hockey men won gold by beating Pakistan in the final. In gymnastics, which was dominated by Olga Korbut, Karin Büttner-Janz won the gold medals on the vault and uneven bars. In addition, the rowing four and the track cycling four won, beating the GDR team in the final. Konrad Wirnhier only won the skeet shooting in a jump-off. Dieter Kottysch was the best in the middleweight boxing. The German riders also contributed to the shower of medals: Liselott Linsenhoff won the individual dressage competition with her horse Piaff and Fritz Ligges, Gerd Wiltfang, Hartwig Steenken and Hans Günter Winkler won the team jumping competition for the Prize of Nations, the last competition of the Games.

Coexistence of the FRG and GDR at the Olympic Games

At the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, the GDR came second in the medal table with 40 gold, 25 silver and 25 bronze medals, behind the Soviet Union and ahead of the USA. The FRG remained in fourth place with 10 gold, 12 silver and 17 bronze medals. German athletes won the sprint events over 100 and 200 metres. Annegret Richter (FRG) won the 100 metres ahead of Renate Stecher (GDR) and Inge Helten (FRG). Bärbel Eckert (GDR) won the 200 metres ahead of Richter and Stecher. The GDR high jumper Rosemarie Ackermann was the first woman in the world to clear the two-metre mark and won gold. The women's swimming competitions were dominated by GDR athletes: they won 11 out of 13 events. The 17-year-old Kornelia Ender stood out in particular, taking home four gold and one silver medal.

In the aftermath of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in December 1979, US Secretary of State Cyrus Vance called for the Summer Games to be withdrawn from Moscow during the IOC session before the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid. The President of the German Sports Federation, Willi Weyer, rejected the function of sport as a "cudgel of politics". However, on 31 March 1980, US President Jimmy Carter induced the NOK of the USA to boycott the Moscow Summer Games. Many nations joined in, others gave the athletes the choice. On 24 April, the German government followed the USA's example, reminding athletes and sports organisations of their responsibility to the state and urging them to also join the boycott out of consideration for the athletes not taking part. On 15 May, an unscheduled meeting of the NOK for Germany was held in Düsseldorf, where the boycott was decided in a secret ballot by 59 votes to 40.

After the host Soviet Union (80 gold, 69 silver, 46 bronze), the GDR dominated the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow with 47 gold, 37 silver and 42 bronze medals in the absence of Western competitors. The high jumper Gerd Wessig won gold and raised the world record to 2.36 metres. Waldemar Cierpinski won the Olympic marathon for the second time after 1976. The GDR swimmers won 26 out of a possible 35 medals and with Caren Metschuck (3 gold, 1 silver) provided the most successful athlete of the Games. Rica Reinisch also achieved three gold medals.

On 8 May 1984, the USSR NOK decided to boycott the 1984 Summer Olympics as revenge. The fact that the Soviet Union was expected to support the Eastern Bloc hit the GDR particularly hard, as it wanted to triumph over the USA in the country of the class enemy. At a meeting of socialist sports organisations, there were even fisticuffs between the GDR sports chief Manfred Ewald and the Soviet Union's sports minister Sergei Pavlov. Subsequently, however, the GDR leadership implemented the boycott, while Romania was the only Eastern Bloc country to take part. In Los Angeles, Ulrike Meyfarth won her second Olympic gold medal after 1972 in the high jump, Dietmar Mögenburg won the men's high jump. Swimmer Michael Groß won two gold and two silver medals.

Two German teams took part in the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul for the last time. The German riders secured team gold in military, jumping and dressage. Nicole Uphoff also won the individual dressage. Michael Groß won gold again after 1984. After winning the four Grand Slam titles, Steffi Graf secured the Golden Slam by winning the Olympic tennis tournament. Henry Maske, Jochen Schümann and Birgit Fischer, among others, won gold medals for the GDR. Christian Schenk won in the supreme discipline of track and field, Ulf Timmermann in the shot put and Jürgen Schult in the discus throw. The most successful swimmer, however, was Kristin Otto, who won six times in six starts.

• 1992 Albertville Winter Olympics
• 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona
• 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer
• 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta
• 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano
• 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney
• 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City
• 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens
• 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin
• 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing
• 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver
• 2012 Summer Olympics in London
• 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi
• 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro
• Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics

Association of the Olympic Movement in Germany

After German reunification, there were problems in merging the two sport policy systems. The sports system of the GDR was no longer financially viable and tens of thousands of employees of sports organisations and laboratories feared dismissal. The officials of the former GDR and those of the old Federal Republic of Germany were sceptical of each other. The case of Katrin Krabbe, who had grown up in the GDR state doping system, caused an international sensation. She won two gold medals at the 1991 World Championships in Athletics in Tokyo, but did not compete at the 1992 Olympics. Many German sports officials, including NOK President Willi Daume, wanted to keep quiet about the problem of GDR doping and leave the incriminated coaches in their traditional positions. On the other hand, various commissions with the participation of Manfred Freiherr von Richthofen, later President of the German Sports Federation, worked to clarify the doping and Stasi past. In view of the expected successes, however, the critical voices were hardly heard. Coaches from the GDR continued to be employed for the time being.

Participations of a united Germany

After 56 years, the team of a single German state competed for the first time at the 1992 Winter Olympics. The premiere was crowned with third place in the medal standings. The German NOK had also applied to host the Games with Berchtesgaden, but had already failed in the first round of voting at the award ceremony in Lausanne in 1986.

In Barcelona, Germany came third in the medal table behind the CIS and the USA with 33 gold, 21 silver and 26 bronze medals. Franziska van Almsick, only 14 years old, became the German star of the Games, although she only won two silver and two bronze medals. The German track and field athletes won in four disciplines: Dieter Baumann won the 5000 metres, Silke Renk the javelin throw, Heike Henkel the high jump and Heike Drechsler the long jump. Germany dominated the boating events in particular, with four gold medals for the rowers and seven for the canoeists. Boris Becker and Michael Stich won the men's tennis doubles.

After the successful Summer Games in Barcelona for Germany, Berlin aspired to host the Summer Olympics in 2000. However, the costly Olympic project did not find much support in view of the problems with the growing together of East and West. In addition, there was mismanagement on the part of the Berlin bidding company, which acted clumsily on the whole. In the 1993 vote in Monte-Carlo, Berlin had no chance, and the 2000 Summer Games were awarded to Sydney.

Before the Olympic Games in 1996, the problems in East German sport became increasingly obvious. The sports facilities based in East Germany suffered from massive staff cuts and athletes could not rely on the state for career planning as they had in the GDR. The financial cost of sending athletes to the Olympic Games was criticised in view of the dilapidated sports infrastructure. The federal government, however, maintained its support for elite sport.

At the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Germany defended its third place in the medal table. Eight of the 20 gold medals were won by German boats: Five of them were won by the canoeists, two by the rowers and one by the sailor Jochen Schümann. The German riders dominated their competitions. Ulrich Kirchhoff won the individual and team show jumping, Isabell Werth won team and individual gold in the dressage. In athletics, Lars Riedel and Ilke Wyludda won the discus throw and Astrid Kumbernuss the shot put. Although decathlete Frank Busemann only won silver, he became one of the crowd's favourites. Franziska van Almsick, on the other hand, could not fulfil the high expectations. She only came second in her favourite event, the 200 metres freestyle. However, the highest viewing figures in Germany were achieved by Udo Quellmalz's victory over Yukimasa Nakamura in judo with 8.13 million viewers.

In the period leading up to the Summer Olympics in 2000, the GDR past of sport was also dealt with in court. Many coaches, officials and doctors from East Germany suffered the consequences of the doping system. They were charged with bodily harm through the administration of anabolic steroids.

Germany at the Olympics in the new millennium

Germany slipped to fifth place in the medal table at the Summer Olympics in Sydney, behind China and host Australia. Canoeist Birgit Fischer won her gold medals number six and seven, topping the list of the most successful German Olympians. Track cyclist Robert Bartko won the individual and team pursuit. Jan Ullrich took gold in the road race and silver in the time trial. The most surprising German winner was track and field athlete Nils Schumann in the 800 metres. Eight years after her victory in the long jump, Heike Drechsler won gold again in this discipline. Like the entire German swimming team, Franziska van Almsick disappointed. She missed the final in the 200 metres freestyle.

A renewed German bid to host the 2012 Summer Games, in which Leipzig was agreed upon, failed in the IOC pre-selection. Similarly, the bobsleigh track in Königssee as part of Salzburg's bid for the 2014 Winter Games will not receive Olympic honours. Munich's bid for the 2018 Winter Olympics also failed when the South Korean city of Pyeongchang won the bid in July 2011. For the 2024 or 2028 Olympic bid of the two interested parties Berlin and Hamburg, the presidium of the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) submitted a catalogue of questions. The application should have been bindingly announced to the IOC in autumn 2015.

The German Sports Aid Foundation has been supporting athletes in the Federal Republic of Germany since 1967. Until the beginning of 1989, the foundation was chaired by Josef Neckermann, himself an Olympic athlete. Particularly in the case of sports that are not so high-profile, such as canoeing and others that only come to the public's attention at the Olympic Games, the support provided by Sporthilfe secures the athletes financially. In addition, German Sport Aid also awards prizes for medals won.

Summer Games

Winter Games

• List of Olympic medallists from Germany

Summer Youth Games