The Inter-Allied Games 1919

There is no other way to say it than WWI sucked. Millions died, nations were torn apart, entire towns and villages ceased to exist and in the aftermath a chaos ensued that nearly caused another world war to break out. So why not have an athletic competition to make everyone feel better. With that thought the Inter-Allied Games were devised.

From June 22 to July 6 over 1500 athletes from eighteen nations took the field to compete in 19 different sports. The contest was open to anyone currently serving in the military or that had served during the Great war. The location of the event was Pershing Stadium in Paris. The stadium had been built via a joint effort of the US military and the YMCA and was gifted to “the people of France”. The stadium is actually still in place and used today!

The Events

The list of events is fairly impressive:

American football
Association football
Athletics
Baseball
Basketball
Boxing
Cross country running
Equestrian
Fencing
Golf
Hand-grenade throwing
Rowing
Rugby union
Shooting
Swimming
Tennis
Tug of war
Water polo
Wrestling

 

One can only wish that hand grenade throwing and American Football could someday become Olympic sports! More military based games were going to part of the agenda, but they sadly did NOT make the final cut.

The Participants

The list of participating nations was almost as impressive:

Australia
Belgium
Brazil
Canada
Czechoslovakia
France
Great Britain
Greece
Guatemala
Kingdom of Hejaz
Italy
Newfoundland
New Zealand
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Serbia
United States

China had been invited and was initially going to attend but it could not get its athletes there in time for the competition. So they supplied some of the medals. The Kingdom of Hejaz did not send athletes but provided a demonstration of the equestrian abilities.

The big winner of the games was Norman Ross and American who won 5 gold medals in the swimming competitions. he would then go on to win several more medals in the 1920 Olympics. Sadly George S. Patton, who had competed in the 1912 Olympics did not participate in the games.

The games were well attended and successful.  If nothing else it gave everyone a reason to cheer in the shadow of a great catastrophe. If you would like more info? You can read the “official” report here.