Literature

From 1912 until 1924 the literature competition was decided in one open event. The first winners for an Ode to Sport were Georges Hohrod and M. Eschbach, who were later discovered to be pseudonyms for Pierre de Coubertin. In 1920, the three medals again went to poetry. For the 1924 event, we have a reliable number of writers (32) and works (37) for the first time. Not surprisingly, the greatest number of entries came from France. In addition to the gold medal for French writer Géo Charles, two medals in silver and bronze each were awarded. Josef Petersen received a silver in 1924, the first of a total of three over the years, making him the most successful writer at Olympic art competitions.

The Olympic Games in Amsterdam in 1928 brought various changes in literature like in all art competitions. For the first time, three events were contested: dramatic, epic, and lyric works. The works had to be written in the artist’s native language with a summary in French. As a special feature in literature and music in 1928, the artists were able to conceal their identity behind a “motto”. Many of the mottos still await the decoding of the respective identities. The gold medal for epic works was awarded to the Hungarian sports historian Ferenc Mező for the first comprehensive History of the Olympic Games. The Italian Lauro de Bosis also entered his work under a motto and won silver, but only three years later he died as an anti-Fascist martyr. The number of participants was only slightly higher than in 1924, although three times as many medals were awarded. In 1932, the same three events were announced, but eventually only one open event was held. This may have been due to the particularly low number of entries (18). Gold was won by the German Paul Bauer for his report of a Himalayas expedition, silver for the second time by Petersen. And the first Honourable Mention in literature was given to Avery Brundage, President of the United States Olympic Committee and future President of the IOC.

In literature, the number of participants reached its all-time high in 1936 (41 with 40 works). Like in 1928, works could be entered in three categories. Gold, silver, and bronze were awarded for epic and lyric works. In the “Dramatic Works”, the jury considered none of the five entries worthy of a medal. The three categories were retained in 1948. While the number of competing countries increased to 18, including Uruguay and Mexico, the number of entries dropped slightly compared to 1936. Just as in 1936, no medals were awarded for “Dramatic Works”. South Africa won the first medal in art competitions by an African country, a silver for “Lyric Works”, and Josef Petersen won his third and last silver for Denmark. The exhibition of 1952 included 22 works by 19 authors including seven works from Ireland. With Carl Diem, another well-known sports official was represented.

Of more than 170 identified writers competing, 18 were females. Nine gold, eleven silver and nine bronze medals were awarded in the 13 events contested. Only one medal was awarded for a dramatic work, silver for Lauro de Bosis Icaro in 1928. The number of Honourable Mentions (7) was the lowest in any art discipline. Of 23 countries represented, 13 took at least one medal. Germany was most successful with two golds and three silvers, plus the disputed shared gold for Coubertin’s German pseudonym in 1912. Finland and Italy also claimed two golds. Josef Petersen’s three silver medals made him the only author who won more than one medal. Internationally known participants were the British poet Robert Graves, Gabriele d’Annunzio from Italy, and Henri de Montherlant from France. Eight of the competing authors were also Olympians in sports events, six of them even medallists. Worth mentioning are the gold medals of Hans Schöchlin in rowing (1928) and of Günter Oskar Dyhrenfurth in alpinism (1936). Both represented Switzerland.