Robert Barty grew up as part of the Indigenous Ngarigo tribe in Bowen in rural Nth Queensland. Daughter Ashleigh Barty is therefore a member of the same Ngarigo people who grew up in Ipswich Queensland. In 2022, when Ash became the Women’s Single champion at the Australian Tennis Grand Slam, every single Australian proudly gathered around, to celebrate her success. Cathy Freeman & Evonne Goolagong Cawley were Barty’s important athletic mentors and indigenous heroines.
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Newly-crowned Australian Open champion Ash Barty
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German soccer team, Berlin Olympic Games 1936. Irish Times
standing between Cathy Freeman (L) and Evonne Goolagong-Cawley (R),
Jan 2022. NITV
Now consider the opposite case, when talented athletes were punished specifically because of their minority ethnic status. Different era, of course.
In 1931 the International Olympic Committee awarded the 1936 Summer Olympics to Berlin, specifically to include Germany in the democratic world. Only after Hitler became Chancellor in Jan 1933 did Germany become a totalitarian state controlled by Nazi policies. German sports imagery from 1933-on promoted the ideal of Aryan racial superiority and physical power.
Democrats warned that the Nazis would use the 1936 Berlin Games for propaganda purposes and that the USA team should boycott the games. But Avery Brundage, Pres of U.S Olympic Committee, opposed the boycott. He believed that a] German Jews were not persecuted and b] politics and sport should never mix. Wasn’t Brundage worried about black U.S athletes?
As the Olympics Boycott fight heated up in 1935, Brundage alleged the existence of a Jewish-Communist conspiracy to keep the USA out. In the end, Brundage won. Note that Hitler rewarded Brundage 2 years later by giving his company the contract to build Wash DC’s German embassy.
In Aug 1936, the Games opened in Berlin. 49 countries competed, with Germany having the largest team and USA having the 2nd largest team. The ceremonies commenced in the new Olympic Stadium, a 110,000 goliath built under Joseph Goebbels' direction to showcase Aryan supremacy.
German officials believed Germany would dominate the Games with victories, since non-Aryans were inferior. Despite personally congratulating two German gold medallists and a Finnish winner on the opening day, Hitler left the stadium after a black American Cornelius Johnson won the high jump. The Führer said that Americans should be ashamed for letting their medals be won by black athletes.
So it was excellent news for democratic Americans that the most brilliant athlete in Berlin was black Jesse Owens. He went on to win four gold medals, including a world record. The spectators were mesmerised.
Now consider the opposite case, when talented athletes were punished specifically because of their minority ethnic status. Different era, of course.
In 1931 the International Olympic Committee awarded the 1936 Summer Olympics to Berlin, specifically to include Germany in the democratic world. Only after Hitler became Chancellor in Jan 1933 did Germany become a totalitarian state controlled by Nazi policies. German sports imagery from 1933-on promoted the ideal of Aryan racial superiority and physical power.
Democrats warned that the Nazis would use the 1936 Berlin Games for propaganda purposes and that the USA team should boycott the games. But Avery Brundage, Pres of U.S Olympic Committee, opposed the boycott. He believed that a] German Jews were not persecuted and b] politics and sport should never mix. Wasn’t Brundage worried about black U.S athletes?
As the Olympics Boycott fight heated up in 1935, Brundage alleged the existence of a Jewish-Communist conspiracy to keep the USA out. In the end, Brundage won. Note that Hitler rewarded Brundage 2 years later by giving his company the contract to build Wash DC’s German embassy.
In Aug 1936, the Games opened in Berlin. 49 countries competed, with Germany having the largest team and USA having the 2nd largest team. The ceremonies commenced in the new Olympic Stadium, a 110,000 goliath built under Joseph Goebbels' direction to showcase Aryan supremacy.
German officials believed Germany would dominate the Games with victories, since non-Aryans were inferior. Despite personally congratulating two German gold medallists and a Finnish winner on the opening day, Hitler left the stadium after a black American Cornelius Johnson won the high jump. The Führer said that Americans should be ashamed for letting their medals be won by black athletes.
So it was excellent news for democratic Americans that the most brilliant athlete in Berlin was black Jesse Owens. He went on to win four gold medals, including a world record. The spectators were mesmerised.
Apparently politics WERE allowed into sport
Note that Hitler stormed out of Berlin’s Olympic Stadium, leaving Owen’s hand dangling. Germany had been humiliated; his Aryan supermen had been beaten by a sub-human, racial inferior. Hitler's racist snubbing of Owens was clear; he shook hands only with Aryan competitors!
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But why did it happen? The relay coaches claimed they needed their fastest runners to win the race, regardless of who’d been promised the spots. But most people said it was because Avery Brundage did not want to embarrass Hitler by having Jews win gold medals. Glickman said both the U.S athletic coach Dean Cromwell and Avery Brundage were motivated by their own anti-Semitism.
In the end the U.S relay team of Jesse Owens, Ralph Metcalfe, Foy Draper and Frank Wykoff brilliantly won in a world record time of 39.8. Yet Glickman and Stoller had travelled from the U.S to compete ONLY in the American relay team. So how did their Jewish heritage get publicised? Were they seen without knickers in the changing room? Did they ask for kosher meat from the kitchen?
Note that Berlin had already been cleaned up with racist graffiti taken down and Fascist papers removed from newsstands. Hitler had already passed the Citizenship Laws, stripping Jews of their nationality but the Führer wanted to maximise the Berlin Games as a propaganda exercise for Nazism. So I must conclude that the overt anti-Semitism against Glickman and Stoller was not solely displayed by Nazi Germany. The Jewish athletes were snubbed by THEIR OWN Olympic Committee.
The US Olympic Committee did admit eventually that Glickman and Stoller were replaced by Avery Brundage at the Germans’ insistence. This was repeated in the HBO documentary called Glickman (Aug 2013). But had Avery Brundage not readily agreed to throw the American Jews out, what would the Germans have done?
Stoller later denied that it was purely anti-Semitism but recorded the incident in his diary as the most humiliating episode in his life. His career quickly faded.
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Paul Taylor's book, 2008
Glickman enlisted in the Marines during WW2, then post-war he launched a very successful broadcasting career, covering top New York sports. His inability to compete in the 1936 U.S athletic team because of his religion had not ruined his career. He devoted his life to helping teens, working with New York high schools and Police Athletic League. Glickman was a lifelong advocate of sports to transcend divisions created by race, class and religion. Glickman died in 2001.
Note that Hitler stormed out of Berlin’s Olympic Stadium, leaving Owen’s hand dangling. Germany had been humiliated; his Aryan supermen had been beaten by a sub-human, racial inferior. Hitler's racist snubbing of Owens was clear; he shook hands only with Aryan competitors!
Marty Glickman and Sam Stoller, 1936
Exclusion of Jewish American athletes
Another controversial decision at these Games was the excluding of two American sprinters, Marty Glickman & Sam Stoller, from 4x100m relay, the day before. Stoller and Glickman, the only Jews in the entire U.S team, were totally withdrawn from the relay team. They were both horrified.
Jesse Owens, Ralph Metcalfe, Foy Draper, Frank Wykoff,
American relay team, minus the Jews
But why did it happen? The relay coaches claimed they needed their fastest runners to win the race, regardless of who’d been promised the spots. But most people said it was because Avery Brundage did not want to embarrass Hitler by having Jews win gold medals. Glickman said both the U.S athletic coach Dean Cromwell and Avery Brundage were motivated by their own anti-Semitism.
In the end the U.S relay team of Jesse Owens, Ralph Metcalfe, Foy Draper and Frank Wykoff brilliantly won in a world record time of 39.8. Yet Glickman and Stoller had travelled from the U.S to compete ONLY in the American relay team. So how did their Jewish heritage get publicised? Were they seen without knickers in the changing room? Did they ask for kosher meat from the kitchen?
Note that Berlin had already been cleaned up with racist graffiti taken down and Fascist papers removed from newsstands. Hitler had already passed the Citizenship Laws, stripping Jews of their nationality but the Führer wanted to maximise the Berlin Games as a propaganda exercise for Nazism. So I must conclude that the overt anti-Semitism against Glickman and Stoller was not solely displayed by Nazi Germany. The Jewish athletes were snubbed by THEIR OWN Olympic Committee.
The US Olympic Committee did admit eventually that Glickman and Stoller were replaced by Avery Brundage at the Germans’ insistence. This was repeated in the HBO documentary called Glickman (Aug 2013). But had Avery Brundage not readily agreed to throw the American Jews out, what would the Germans have done?
Stoller later denied that it was purely anti-Semitism but recorded the incident in his diary as the most humiliating episode in his life. His career quickly faded.
