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AIMS Marathon Museum of Running
A significant new addition to the
collection of the AIMS Marathon
Museum of Running - filling 34
running metres of shelving and
weighing almost a ton - arrived in
Berlin from Atlanta, Georgia.
The Honorary AIMS Statistician Dr
David Martin has been donating items
to the Museum with every visit since
2008. Now he has given the major part
of his athletics/marathon library which
forms the “David E. Martin Collection”.
This recent donation amounted to
approximately 800 books, 60% bound
magazines and 40% yearbooks on
running, international athletics, and
numerous publications about running.
Since the beginning of June it has been
exhibited in the “Gerhard Schlegel
Room”
Gerd Steins, responsible for receiving
and curating the consignment in Berlin
commented: “It is not only historians
and museum people who know how
hard it is to separate yourself from the
things you have collected in your life.
AIMS Marathon Museum of Running
expresses a heartfelt thank you to
David Martin for his generous
donation.”
From 15 August to 23 December this
year the AIMS Marathon-Museum of
Running, Sportmuseum Berlin is
running a photographic exhibition in
the “Haus das Deutschen Sports” In
Berlin’s Olympiapark, open 10.00-14.00
Monday to Friday with free admission.
At the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin
thousands of photos were taken at
hundreds of athletic competitions.
Sports photographers were at a
transformative stage, increasingly
moving away from large-format
cameras to the small-format cameras
(Leica and Contax). But at a political
level foreign photojournalists were
excluded by the decision to accredit
only those belonging to the Imperial
Commission of Photojournalists within
the Imperial Association of the German
Photojournalists at the rowing
regatta in Berlin-Grünau
Media. Accredited photojournalists
were also divided into an athletic
group, for the sporting events, and a
current events group, for events outside
the actual athletic competitions. Special
identifying armbands and the clothing
they wore were also prescribed (and
provided).
114 photojournalists are listed by
name and accreditation number but the
official report names 125
photographers, of whom 69 were
responsible for the athletic events and
56 for current events. To complicate
things even more, all of the
photojournalists received entrance
tickets from the photo press office with
a specific time and location where they
were permitted to work. This rigid
system led to major disappointments.
Paul Wolff in his book “What I saw at
the 1936 Olympic Games” wrote:
“To want something and not be allowed
to do it! We stood there like horses with
their heads pulled back with curb bits.
When the starting shots were fired
down on the track, I was standing up in
the stands at my lonely post in the
middle of the crowd, who let me know
that I was not “transparent”. They did
not like seeing me much there at all. I
crouched down into the smallest space.
My colleague watched with clenched
teeth 100m away as the finish line tape
was torn. We were faced with inner
A cameraman for the Olympiafilm
production uses an umbrella to
protect himself from the sun
Marathon
champion Kee
Chung Sohn
of Korea
battles between duty and self-interest
and antagonism between reason and
angry negation.”
These working conditions were a strict
consequence of the exploitive
utilization of these Olympic Games,
which Angermeyer described in his
1935 Hymn to Berlin: “these Games
provided us with an invaluable means
of propaganda.”
This culminated in a photo
adulteration, in which Adolf Hitler’s
building enthusiasm was exaggerated.
With the photo caption We’re ready to
build! The classic photograph of a
powerful head of state was staged: a
Führer photo that was sent around the
world and which even today is often
reprinted in publications without
comment or critique. Photos are often
selected according to look or cost and
come from the pool of photos that are
available from the photo trading card
albums, commemorative books, and
special magazine editions from 1936.
Rarely is much effort or money invested
in searching the archives and museums
for other unpublished materials, with
the result that the current presentation
of the 1936 Games is still filled with
the photo aesthetics and selection that
stemmed from Nazi times.
In order to break through these barriers,
the Berlin Sports Museum and the
Forum for Sport History is presenting
this selection of 100 photos from the
thousands they hold of the 1936 Berlin
Games.
■ A German/English brochure has been created to accompany the
exhibition, which includes all of the photographs on exhibit. The brochure is
available for 5 Euros onsite, or can be ordered from:
Sportmuseum Berlin- Olympiapark Berlin, Hanns-Braun-Straße, 14053 Berlin.
Email: Sportmuseum.Berlin@t-online.de Telephone: 030-305 83 00
www.Sportmuseum-Berlin.de
Information and photos are available at:
http://www.germanroadraces.de/24-1-24615-75year-anniversary-of-theolympic-games-in.html
Big demand
for Big Sur
Big Sur International Marathon
sold out in 29 days, the fastest ever
for the 26-year old race, with only a
limited number of premium race
registrations for specific programs
being made available at a later
date. Other events held during the
marathon weekend, including the
marathon relay, 21, 10.6 and 9-
Milers, and the 5K, remain open for
registration. The previous record of
seven weeks for a Big Sur Marathon
sellout was in 2002 following a
designation of the Big Sur race as
"The Best Marathon in North
America" in the annual Ultimate
Guide to Marathons.
Comrades -
since 1975
Comrades Marathon Association
used the occasion of Women’s Day
to pay tribute to the many women
who have run the event and
contributed to its spirit of
camaraderie and grace. Nearly a
quarter of Comrades' entrants are
women: this year 4,381 out of
19,591.
Until 1975, the world’s biggest
ultra-marathon did not feature a
single official woman runner. Only
men were permitted to participate
until the Golden Jubilee 50th
running of the race when the
Comrades Marathon was opened up
to people of all races and both
sexes. Since then, year on year, the
ultra-marathon has attracted a
growing number of women athletes.
CMA Chairman Peter Proctor said
‘Women add a very special facet to
the Ultimate Human Race. We are
extremely proud of the
achievements of women in this
international sporting fixture as well
as the glitz and glamour they
bestow upon the race.”
The race defines
the place
On 7 August one of the youngest
members of AIMS held their second
edition - the Asuncion
International Marathon, held in
the capital city of Paraguay.
This year Paraguay celebrated its
bicentennial; 200 years since it
became an independent state. It is
a quixotic and exotic place, and the
home to innumerable heroes who
have battled to defend their
national identity. Marathon runners
now fight the same fight, as the
Marathon is doing so much to
define the place.
Distance Running | 2011 Edition 4 7