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Avery Brundage was the fifth president of the International Olympic Committee, serving from 1952 to 1972, the only American and first non-European to attain that position. Brundage is remembered as a zealous advocate of amateurism and for his involvement with the 1936 and 1972 Summer Olympics, both held in Germany.
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business · President of the IOC from 1952 to 1972 · art collector · basketball player · athletics competitor · modern pentathlete · politician · businessperson · entrepreneur · athlete · collector · also Avery Brundage, Brundage
Born 28 September 1887 · Died 8 May 1975 · Q155928
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“I was severely criticized for that ... but the fact is that I did it on purpose. I had to. There was a principle involved and altho [sic] it was a terrible thing that some lives were lost, principles are just as important as human lives.”
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“s film about the Berlin Olympics, Olympia, could not be commercially shown in the United States, as”
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After Stoller's death, by the United States Olympic Committee (successor to the AOC)
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The IIHF agreed to allow "open competition" between all players in the World Championships
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Earned Gold Olympic Order (1975).
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Died 1975-05-08.
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After Brundage had left the post of IOC president, and helped to resolve the dispute with the CAHA
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Brundage called for the elimination of the Winter Olympics after 1976, finding them hopelessly polluted by rampant commercialism, especially in alpine skiing
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Brundage banned Austrian skier Karl Schranz from the Sapporo Winter Olympics for commercial activities, calling him "a walking billboard
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Brundage maintained his position on amateurism: "There are only two kinds of competitors
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The IOC, at its Amsterdam session, voted to strip the South African NOC of recognition
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“s status as an Olympic sport would be in jeopardy if the change was made. In response, Canada withdrew from international ice hockey competition and officials stated that they would not return until”
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The organization decided to allow Canada to use nine non-NHL professional hockey players at the 1970 World Championships in Montreal and Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
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And 1972; when refused permission to compete under that name in 1976, after Brundage's death, it boycotted the 1976 and 1980 games, returning in 1984 as Chinese Taipei
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Brundage and the IOC invited a South African team (supposedly to be multiracial) to the Mexico City Games, but under a threatened boycott and with evidence of minimal South African compliance, withdrew it
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Were granted full membership, with their own team under their own flag, which they displayed on West German soil four years later at the opening ceremony at Munich
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Awarded Commander of the Congolese Order of Merit (1967).
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Awarded Grand Cross of the Order of Civil Merit (1965).
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Against Brundage's opposition, the IOC amended the rules to allow sports federations to offer athletes "broken time" payments, compensating them for time missed from work, but only if they had dependents in need
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Which increased tensions between East and West, Brundage was successful in securing a joint German team for the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo
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Under continuing IOC insistence that the two states send a single team, East Germany contributed 141 of the 321 athletes; competitors from both states lived in the same area of the Olympic Village
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Government rules requiring separate events for whites and non-whites in South Africa were issued; non-whites received poorer facilities
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The East Germans resumed their attempts at recognition
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The Brundage-headed IOC, in a narrow vote, recognized both committees, thus allowing both states to participate at Melbourne
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Earned Finnish Olympic Cross of Merit, First Class (1952).
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Career landmark: president of the International Olympic Committee (1952–1972).
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When the mainland NOC (the All-China Athletic Federation), considering itself a continuation of the pre-1949 committee, wrote to the IOC stating that it desired to participate in the Helsinki Olympics to be held that yea
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The children were born in 1951 and 1952, at precisely the time that Brundage was being considered for the presidency of the IOC.
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And the matter was put over until February 1952, when a negotiating session was scheduled for Copenhagen
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(Brundage was still vice president), the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) also formed an NOC and requested recognition
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Most NOC members fled the mainland for the island of Taiwan
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To recommend whether the 1906 Intercalated Games, held in Athens, should be considered a full Olympic Games
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Tennis allowed expense payments of up to $600 per tournament, while boxing permitted valuable prizes as awards
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The Soviets began to join international federations; in 1951 their NOC was recognized by the IOC, and they began Olympic competition the following year
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The Swede expressed concern as to who would lead the IOC if he should die, and suggested that Brundage become second vice-president, a newly created position
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Following allegations of pro-Nazi sympathies
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His construction company received the contract to build a new German embassy in Washington (this was not fulfilled as World War II intervened)
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Six days after the American arrival in Germany, the IOC met in Berlin and unanimously expelled Jahncke
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And 1972 seen as evidence of antisemitism
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“We [his first wife Elizabeth and himself] spent a week at the exhibition and I came away so enamored with Chinese art that I”
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The Committee voted to send the United States team to Berlin
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At the age of 46, he won one game out of two against Angelo Trulio, who had recently been the US national champion
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That he was being considered for IOC membership)
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"I am not personally fond of jews [sic] and of the jewish [sic] influence, but I will not have them molested in no way [sic] whatsoever
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To move the Games from Germany, to no avail, and herself ultimately boycotted the Games
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And expected to repeat, for allegedly getting drunk at late-night parties and missing her curfew
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Was part of a special committee of the IAAF which disqualified Finnish runner Paavo Nurmi from the Los Angeles Games for allegedly accepting monetary compensation
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Soon after winning three medals at the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, track star Mildred "Babe" Didrikson appeared in an automobile advertisement, and the Brundage-led AAU quickly suspended her amateur status
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The IOC awarded the 1936 Olympics to Germany, with the winter games in Bavaria and the summer games in the capital city, Berlin
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American track star Charlie Paddock stated that Brundage and other sports officials were making money for the AOC by using him as a gate attraction, while treating him badly; Brundage shot back accusing Paddock of "untru
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And kept the post (except for a one-year break in 1933) through 1935
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And president of the International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF)
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On the resignation of then-AOA president General Douglas MacArthur, Brundage was elected president of the AOA; he was also elected president of the AOC, a post he held for over 20 years
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Brundage became vice-president of the AAU, and chairman of its Handball Committee
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When the China National Amateur Athletic Federation was recognized by the IOC as the nation's NOC
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There was public outcry when the AOC chartered a disused troopship to carry home America's representatives in the 1920 Olympic Games in Antwerp; much of the team instead booked passage by ocean liner
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Struck out on his own in construction, founding the Avery Brundage Company, of which his uncle Edward was a director
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As a member of the Chicago Athletic Association (CAA), he finished third in the national all-around championships (an American predecessor of the decathlon), sponsored by the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU), and continued t
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Brundage enrolled at the University of Illinois, where he undertook an arduous schedule of civil engineering courses
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Brundage finished first in an essay competition, winning a trip to President William McKinley's second inauguration
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Born 1887-09-28.
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The son of Charles and Minnie (Lloyd) Brundage
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