Nordic games
The Nordic Games ( Nordiska spelen ) were sporting events in Sweden that focused on winter sports competitions . The games were organized by the "Swedish Central Organization for the Promotion of Sport" ( Sveriges Centralförening för idrottens främjande , SCFIF) under the direction of Viktor Gustaf Balck and between 1901 and 1926 they were played seven times.
Events
sports
In addition to the popular winter sports of ski jumping , downhill skiing , cross-country skiing , Nordic combined , skeleton , ice sailing , skate sailing, speed skating , figure skating , ice hockey , curling , bandy , dog sledding , kicksledding and pulka , other competitions were held at the Nordic Games . In addition to unusual winter sports such as skeleton driving behind horses and skijoring behind reindeer, many sports were carried out that do not fall into the winter sports area - besides fencing and swimming , long-distance horse races from Enköping to Stockholm (approx. 80 km), various forms of military sports, horse hunting, car racing , Motorcycle racing and ballooning .
Venues
The games took place in Stockholm , in the absence of snow the competitions were moved to Östersund (1907 and 1913). In 1903 a Nordic winter sports week (Nordisk Vinteridroesuge) was held in Kristiania (today's Oslo ), which at that time still belonged to Sweden , which is often referred to as the second Nordic Games. It is not known whether this was intended as a one-off event from the start - or whether the winter sports week was only discontinued because of Norway's independence (1905).
| 1901 | February 9th to 17th | Stockholm |
| 1903 | in February | Kristiania - Nordic Winter Sports Week |
| 1905 | February 4th to 12th | Stockholm / Östersund |
| 1909 | February 6-14 | Stockholm |
| 1913 | February 7th to 16th | Stockholm / Östersund |
| 1917 | February 10th to 18th | Stockholm |
| 1922 | February 4th to 12th | Stockholm |
| 1926 | February 6-14 | Stockholm |
World and European championships
Many World and European Championships were held as part of the Nordic Games - this led to a further increase in the reputation of the Games.
| 1901 | World speed skating championships World Figure Skating Championships - originally scheduled for London, they were moved to Stockholm at short notice after the death of Queen Victoria (January 1901) |
| 1905 | European speed skating championships World figure skating championships |
| 1909 | World Figure Skating Championships for men and couples |
| 1913 | World Figure Skating Championships for Women and Couples |
| 1917 | - |
| 1922 | World Figure Skating Championships for men and women |
| 1926 | World figure skating championships for women |
Supporting program
A cultural supporting program was also organized in the context of the sporting competitions.
history
The idea of Nordic Games was proposed in 1899 by the ophthalmologist Erik Johan Widmark (1850–1909, holder of the first chair in ophthalmology in Sweden since 1891) and in 1900 by the "Swedish Central Organization for the Promotion of Sport" ( Sveriges Centralförening för idrottens främjande) founded in 1897 , SCFIF) headed by Victor Balck. After Stockholm in 1901, the SCFIF planned the next games in 1903 in Kristiana, today's Oslo , which at that time still belonged to Sweden. However, since the Norwegians showed no interest, it was agreed to hold a Nordic winter sports week (Nordisk Vinteridroesuge) - due to Norway's independence in 1905, the winter sports week was held once only.
Nordic Games in the field of tension of politics
Winter sports in Sweden were the focus of social disputes, as it was on the one hand a leisure activity of the urban upper class, but also the harsh winter reality in the snow-covered villages of the poor north. This area of tension, which was occupied by the major political parties, was reflected in the dissatisfaction of the participants with the schedule, the prices, the preparations, the team quarters, etc. The army, with Victor Gustav Balck as its spokesman, tried to find a compromise, but ultimately failed because of social reality. The Olympic Games, with their own social compromise and the compromise between nationalism and internationalism, offered themselves as a sensible alternative and were accordingly favored by Sigfrid Edström , Balck's successor as the heavyweight of Swedish sport. The fact that this promoted increased Swedish nationalism in the political reality, in the case of Edström with fascist influences, shows the political problems of sport in Sweden.
End of the Nordic Games
There are several reasons for the end of the Nordic Games, the respective influences being difficult to separate.
- Three months after the seventh Nordic Games in 1926, on May 6, 1926, the Semaine internationale des sports d'hiver of 1924 was subsequently declared to be the first Winter Olympic Games.
- In 1928, Viktor Balck, the driving force behind the games, died
- In 1930 there was a reorganization of Swedish sports: control of active sport (and thus the Nordic Games) went to the Sveriges Riksidrottsförbund, the SCFIF only had the passive role of sponsor.
- the eighth Nordic Games of 1930 had to be canceled at short notice due to an acute lack of snow (also in Östersund).
In 1933 it was decided not to prepare any games for 1934, as the FIS competitions were to be held in Sollefteå that same year . After the request of a group of Swedish athletes led by Sixtus Jansson , Bo Ekelund and Ernst Breberg to revive the 1942 Games was rejected by the Swedish government, there were no further efforts to reissue the Games.
literature
- Ron Edgeworth: The Nordic Games and The Origins of the Olympic Winter Games. In: Citius, Altius, Fortius. (from 1997 Journal of Olympic History), November 1994, Vol. 2, No. 2, pp. 29–37, aafla.org (PDF)
- Åke Jönsson: The Nordic Games: Precursor to the Olympic Winter Games. In: Olympic Review. February-March 2002, Vol. XXVII, No. 43, pp. 64-68. aafla.org (PDF)
- Jens Ljunggren, Leif Yttergren: The Nordic Games: Visions of Olympic Winter Games or a National Festival? in Contemporary Studies in the National Olympic Games Movement. 1997, ISBN 3-631-32491-X , olympischeerbildung.de (PDF)
- Nordic games . In: Theodor Westrin (Ed.): Nordisk familjebok konversationslexikon och realencyklopedi . 2nd Edition. tape 19 : Mykenai-Norrpada . Nordisk familjeboks förlag, Stockholm 1913, Sp. 1316 (Swedish, runeberg.org ).
Web links
- Stefanie Arlt: Early history of the Olympic Winter Games
Individual evidence
- ^ Edgeworth: The Nordic Games and The Origins of the Olympic Winter Games. 1994, p. 31.
- ^ Edgeworth: The Nordic Games and The Origins of the Olympic Winter Games. 1994, p. 29.
- ↑ Leif Yttergren: The Nordic games: visions of a winter Olympics or a national festival? In: The International Journal of the History of Sport. 11 (1994), 3, pp. 495-505.
- ^ John B. Allen: The Culture and Sport of Skiing: From Antiquity to World War II. University of Massachusetts Press, Amherst 2007, ISBN 978-1-55849-600-2 , pp. 187ff.
- ^ Arnd Krüger : Neo-Olympism between nationalism and internationalism. In: Horst Ueberhorst (Ed.): History of physical exercises. Volume 3/1, Bartels & Wernitz, Berlin 1980, pp. 522-568.