The Olympics kick off today. Over the years, there have been many weird sports at the games (like swimming obstacle course and tug of war), but there was a time when the Olympics weren’t all about sports. Art competitions were part of the modern Olympic Games from 1912 to 1948!
Art competitions had been a staple of the ancient Olympic games in Greece. The founder of the modern Olympic movement, Pierre de Coubertin, felt that art was as much a part of the Olympic ideals as sports. As he struggled to build the Olympics from scratch, he was (unsurprisingly) unable to convince local organizers that art competitions were necessary for the games. He remained adamant, and finally, they were included in the 1912 Stockholm Olympics.
Medals were awarded for works of art in 5 categories: architecture, literature, music, painting, and sculpture. The rules were that all the works had to be inspired by sport and they had to be original (not published before the competition). Only 35 artists submitted their work that first year. Over the next few decades a total of 151 medals were given out in the arts. Germany, Italy, and France were the 3 medal winners in the art competitions.
The art competitions were popular with the public. At the 1932 games in Los Angeles, 400,000 people visited the Los Angeles Museum of History, Science and Art to see that year’s works. Some big names did enter the competition as well, including the architect of the Jefferson Memorial, John Russell Pope.
Only 2 people have won Olympic medals in both sport and art. Walter Winans won a gold medal as a marksman at the 1908 Olympics and a silver medal in shooting at the 1912 games. He also won gold for his bronze statue An American Trotter. The other is Hungarian Alfred Hajos. He won 2 gold medals in swimming at the 1896 Athens Olympics. 28 years later, he won a silver medal in architecture for designing the Budapest Swimming Center.
In 1948, a British artist named John Copley won silver in the engravings and etchings competition at the age of 73. That makes him the oldest Olympic medalist in history! The oldest Olympic medalist in the sport competitions is a Swedish shooter, Oscar Swahn, who won his last medal at age 72.
The art competitions ended in 1954, but since 1956 the Olympic cultural program has taken their place. Instead of it being a competition, the host country puts on an array of cultural events before and running parallel to the Olympic games.
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