1 00:00:08,762 --> 00:00:10,202 Speaker 1: Fireheart originals. 2 00:00:10,362 --> 00:00:15,802 Speaker 2: This is an iHeart original. I don't know about you, 3 00:00:15,922 --> 00:00:19,642 Speaker 2: but I've never actually met an Olympic medal winner. But 4 00:00:20,282 --> 00:00:23,562 Speaker 2: I can tell you where to find one without getting 5 00:00:23,602 --> 00:00:28,402 Speaker 2: slapped with a stocking charge. One Olympic winner hangs out 6 00:00:28,442 --> 00:00:36,242 Speaker 2: in New York City. No, not that New York City, 7 00:00:36,922 --> 00:00:44,882 Speaker 2: This New York City. This is Marine Park in South Brooklyn. 8 00:00:45,362 --> 00:00:49,522 Speaker 2: It's one of those New York neighborhoods that forget tourists. 9 00:00:50,002 --> 00:00:54,962 Speaker 2: Most Native New Yorkers have never visited. Compared to Manhattan, 10 00:00:55,362 --> 00:01:00,042 Speaker 2: Marine Park is another planet. It's nestled against a giant 11 00:01:00,282 --> 00:01:06,962 Speaker 2: salt marsh. Imagine tall grassy reeds nests of Osprey's a 12 00:01:07,002 --> 00:01:13,242 Speaker 2: gentle creek feeding into the Atlantic. On the edge of 13 00:01:13,282 --> 00:01:17,362 Speaker 2: that creek, that's where you'll find a silver medal Olympic 14 00:01:17,442 --> 00:01:22,362 Speaker 2: winner hanging out in a public park filled with cricket fields. 15 00:01:23,242 --> 00:01:26,362 Speaker 2: Another place you could find an Olympic medalist is a 16 00:01:26,402 --> 00:01:30,202 Speaker 2: quick train ride north up to New Haven, Connecticut, home 17 00:01:30,242 --> 00:01:34,762 Speaker 2: to Yale University. If you wander campus, you'll find Olympic 18 00:01:34,802 --> 00:01:42,642 Speaker 2: glory at the Paine Whitney Gymnasium. This is the second 19 00:01:42,882 --> 00:01:47,482 Speaker 2: largest gym in the world. It's got twelve acres of 20 00:01:47,602 --> 00:01:51,882 Speaker 2: indoor space, and like a lot of buildings at Yale, 21 00:01:51,962 --> 00:01:56,722 Speaker 2: it could easily be confused for a Gothic basilica. In fact, 22 00:01:56,882 --> 00:02:01,802 Speaker 2: locals affectionately call it the Cathedral of Sweat. And here's 23 00:02:01,842 --> 00:02:06,122 Speaker 2: the thing. I can't guarantee you'll find any Olympic medalists 24 00:02:06,442 --> 00:02:09,602 Speaker 2: in the but I can guarantee you'll be in the 25 00:02:09,642 --> 00:02:14,922 Speaker 2: presence of one, because the gym itself is an Olympic 26 00:02:15,082 --> 00:02:22,682 Speaker 2: medal winner. During the nineteen thirty two Olympic Games, the 27 00:02:22,722 --> 00:02:27,802 Speaker 2: pain Whitney Gymnasium and its designer, John Russell Pope won 28 00:02:28,042 --> 00:02:35,402 Speaker 2: the Olympic silver medal in the category of Architecture, Yes, architecture. 29 00:02:36,002 --> 00:02:40,642 Speaker 2: Oh and four years later, the architect Charles Downing Lay 30 00:02:41,122 --> 00:02:44,762 Speaker 2: won a silver medal in the category of City Design 31 00:02:45,202 --> 00:02:48,922 Speaker 2: for his plans to build you guessed it, the park 32 00:02:49,042 --> 00:02:53,642 Speaker 2: in Marine Park, Brooklyn. And if all that sounds weird, 33 00:02:53,962 --> 00:02:59,122 Speaker 2: that's okay. It's a little known fact that between nineteen 34 00:02:59,282 --> 00:03:06,442 Speaker 2: twelve and nineteen forty eight the Olympics hosted arts competitions. Architects, 35 00:03:06,602 --> 00:03:12,522 Speaker 2: pain writers, sculptors, composers all had a shot to compete 36 00:03:12,722 --> 00:03:17,442 Speaker 2: for Olympic glory. So if you weren't blessed with superior 37 00:03:17,602 --> 00:03:21,642 Speaker 2: athletic talent but always wanted to bring home the gold. 38 00:03:22,442 --> 00:03:27,962 Speaker 2: Today's episode is for you. Welcome to Very Special Episodes 39 00:03:28,042 --> 00:03:32,242 Speaker 2: and iHeart original podcast. I'm your host, Dana Schwartz and 40 00:03:32,562 --> 00:03:36,922 Speaker 2: this is Art of Gold, the Olympic art competitions. 41 00:03:38,402 --> 00:03:43,322 Speaker 3: Hey everyone, this is Jason English. The Very Special Episodes 42 00:03:43,402 --> 00:03:46,282 Speaker 3: team is mostly scattered for the summer, but we wanted 43 00:03:46,322 --> 00:03:49,362 Speaker 3: to hold our very last episode of season one to 44 00:03:49,642 --> 00:03:53,002 Speaker 3: coincide with the Olympics. One tiny bit of news here 45 00:03:53,042 --> 00:03:56,002 Speaker 3: before we get you back to the episode. We've been 46 00:03:56,042 --> 00:03:59,202 Speaker 3: renewed for season two, which is very exciting. We feel 47 00:03:59,202 --> 00:04:01,762 Speaker 3: pretty good about our chances. The show has done pretty 48 00:04:01,802 --> 00:04:04,602 Speaker 3: well and continues to grow. For time, we were the 49 00:04:04,642 --> 00:04:07,962 Speaker 3: number one history podcast on Apple. Kind of like a 50 00:04:07,962 --> 00:04:11,082 Speaker 3: gold medal, I guess, but you never know. I think 51 00:04:11,162 --> 00:04:15,882 Speaker 3: I'm a pretty optimistic person, but I often assume the 52 00:04:15,922 --> 00:04:18,282 Speaker 3: worst when it comes to stuff like this. And I 53 00:04:18,322 --> 00:04:20,962 Speaker 3: really love making the show and working with Dana and 54 00:04:21,082 --> 00:04:25,002 Speaker 3: Zarin and producer Josh and story editor Marissa and our 55 00:04:25,082 --> 00:04:28,122 Speaker 3: incredible writers. But it turns out there's no reason to worry. 56 00:04:28,362 --> 00:04:30,442 Speaker 3: We'll be back with a whole new batch of stories 57 00:04:30,482 --> 00:04:36,202 Speaker 3: this fall. I believe October second we're targeting. Don't hold 58 00:04:36,202 --> 00:04:38,402 Speaker 3: me to that, but we'll be back in a couple months. 59 00:04:38,762 --> 00:04:41,322 Speaker 3: And that's enough about us. Let's get back to the Olympics. 60 00:04:42,002 --> 00:04:43,602 Speaker 3: We're going to take you back to a time when 61 00:04:43,642 --> 00:04:47,162 Speaker 3: you could win gold for something that didn't require insane 62 00:04:47,522 --> 00:04:48,602 Speaker 3: athletic ability. 63 00:04:50,962 --> 00:04:53,642 Speaker 2: I want to introduce you to the guy who invented 64 00:04:53,802 --> 00:04:59,722 Speaker 2: the modern Olympics. Pierre de Kuberton born in the eighteen sixties. 65 00:04:59,922 --> 00:05:05,002 Speaker 2: Kubertant was a French aristocrat. He was stuffy and reserved, 66 00:05:05,442 --> 00:05:08,522 Speaker 2: and frankly he looked the part I mean, you could 67 00:05:08,642 --> 00:05:12,842 Speaker 2: land an airplane on this guy's mustache. At some point 68 00:05:12,962 --> 00:05:17,722 Speaker 2: in the eighteen eighties, Kuberton became enamored with a new 69 00:05:17,762 --> 00:05:23,242 Speaker 2: fangled idea called physical education. At the time, there was 70 00:05:23,322 --> 00:05:28,402 Speaker 2: a growing school of thought that suggested athletic competition could 71 00:05:28,402 --> 00:05:35,362 Speaker 2: develop a young person's moral character. Proponents called it athletic chivalry, 72 00:05:35,802 --> 00:05:41,082 Speaker 2: and there were spiritual connotations too. Many argued that melding 73 00:05:41,282 --> 00:05:46,522 Speaker 2: muscle and mind could bring people closer to God. The YMCA, 74 00:05:46,802 --> 00:05:51,522 Speaker 2: which stands for Young Men's Christian Association, had been born 75 00:05:51,642 --> 00:05:56,882 Speaker 2: of a movement called muscular Christianity. Kuberton was in the 76 00:05:56,922 --> 00:06:00,362 Speaker 2: middle of all of this, and it reminded him of 77 00:06:00,402 --> 00:06:05,562 Speaker 2: something that only existed in the dusty pages of history books. 78 00:06:05,682 --> 00:06:10,922 Speaker 2: Centuries ago. The ancient Greeks had celebrated the same virtues 79 00:06:11,402 --> 00:06:17,202 Speaker 2: by putting on an athletic competition called the Olympics. The 80 00:06:17,282 --> 00:06:20,962 Speaker 2: ancient Games died out around the year three hundred and 81 00:06:21,082 --> 00:06:25,922 Speaker 2: ninety three, but Kubertant wondered, what if we brought it back. 82 00:06:27,082 --> 00:06:30,362 Speaker 4: So it's the round eighteen ninety two to eighteen ninety 83 00:06:30,402 --> 00:06:33,562 Speaker 4: four that he makes his first pitches in favor of 84 00:06:33,562 --> 00:06:34,082 Speaker 4: the Olympics. 85 00:06:34,562 --> 00:06:36,242 Speaker 2: That's Miles Osgoode. 86 00:06:36,482 --> 00:06:40,242 Speaker 4: I'm a lecturer at Stanford for the Structured Liberal Education Program, 87 00:06:40,402 --> 00:06:42,962 Speaker 4: where I teach literature and philosophy in our history. 88 00:06:43,642 --> 00:06:47,482 Speaker 2: Miles is also an expert on the Olympic art competitions. 89 00:06:47,882 --> 00:06:51,042 Speaker 2: He wrote his dissertation on the topic. He says that 90 00:06:51,282 --> 00:06:55,442 Speaker 2: when Cooperton first dreamed up the idea of reviving the 91 00:06:55,482 --> 00:06:59,322 Speaker 2: old Greek Olympics, he didn't receive much fanfare. 92 00:06:59,922 --> 00:07:02,722 Speaker 4: This funny story of giving this big speech to a 93 00:07:02,762 --> 00:07:05,562 Speaker 4: bunch of French sports officials in eighteen ninety two at 94 00:07:05,562 --> 00:07:07,642 Speaker 4: the Sorbonne and trying to the case at the very 95 00:07:07,682 --> 00:07:09,122 Speaker 4: end of that speech that one of the things that 96 00:07:09,162 --> 00:07:12,122 Speaker 4: we should do is renovate the Olympic Games. And he 97 00:07:12,162 --> 00:07:14,482 Speaker 4: gets kind of a polite applause, but nobody really They 98 00:07:14,482 --> 00:07:15,842 Speaker 4: think it's almost a figure of speech. 99 00:07:16,762 --> 00:07:21,922 Speaker 2: The audience didn't think Kuberton was being serious. The speech flopped, 100 00:07:22,762 --> 00:07:26,762 Speaker 2: but Kuberton believed in his idea, so a couple years 101 00:07:26,842 --> 00:07:31,482 Speaker 2: later he presented it again, and this time with panache. 102 00:07:32,562 --> 00:07:35,042 Speaker 4: He thinks, Okay, if I'm really going to get them 103 00:07:35,042 --> 00:07:37,322 Speaker 4: to imagine what this would really be like, I'm going 104 00:07:37,322 --> 00:07:39,402 Speaker 4: to need a little bit of pomp and pageantry. 105 00:07:40,162 --> 00:07:45,362 Speaker 2: Kubertan stood before an audience representing sports organizations from all 106 00:07:45,442 --> 00:07:49,202 Speaker 2: over the world. In an effort to capture their imaginations, 107 00:07:49,562 --> 00:07:53,842 Speaker 2: he tried to transport them back to ancient Greece. He 108 00:07:53,962 --> 00:07:58,362 Speaker 2: set the mood with a giant neoclassical mural in the background, 109 00:07:58,842 --> 00:08:02,482 Speaker 2: there was a musical performance of a long lost hymn 110 00:08:02,922 --> 00:08:07,122 Speaker 2: recently discovered in Greece, and then he gave his speach. 111 00:08:08,042 --> 00:08:12,922 Speaker 2: The trick worked. The audience was wrapped with attention, and 112 00:08:13,082 --> 00:08:16,402 Speaker 2: when it was finished, everyone in the room agreed to 113 00:08:16,442 --> 00:08:23,202 Speaker 2: create an organization called the International Olympic Committee. Just two 114 00:08:23,322 --> 00:08:27,682 Speaker 2: years later, in eighteen ninety six, the first modern Olympic 115 00:08:27,762 --> 00:08:34,282 Speaker 2: Games were held in Athens, Greece. It had cyclic fencing, gymnastics, 116 00:08:34,722 --> 00:08:38,562 Speaker 2: weightlifting and more. At the time it was the largest 117 00:08:38,722 --> 00:08:46,322 Speaker 2: international sporting event ever. But Kubertant he wasn't satisfied. Something 118 00:08:46,642 --> 00:08:51,602 Speaker 2: was missing. The ancient Olympic Games had something the modern 119 00:08:51,642 --> 00:08:55,882 Speaker 2: games didn't, and that, he said was art. 120 00:08:58,202 --> 00:09:01,602 Speaker 1: In the time of splendire at Olympia, the oughts in 121 00:09:01,682 --> 00:09:07,202 Speaker 1: that is combined harmoniously with sport, assuring the grandeur the 122 00:09:07,202 --> 00:09:10,762 Speaker 1: Olympic Games. It must be the same in the future. 123 00:09:12,082 --> 00:09:15,882 Speaker 2: To be true to the old Greek Games, Kubertown said, 124 00:09:16,562 --> 00:09:20,042 Speaker 2: the new Olympics needed art contests. 125 00:09:21,002 --> 00:09:24,362 Speaker 1: There is only one difference between our Olympias and playing 126 00:09:24,442 --> 00:09:29,162 Speaker 1: sporting championship, and it is precisely the contest of art 127 00:09:29,402 --> 00:09:32,202 Speaker 1: as they existed in the Olympias of ancient Greece. 128 00:09:33,042 --> 00:09:37,882 Speaker 2: Kuberton lived by a Latin motto mens sana in kuppor 129 00:09:38,082 --> 00:09:42,922 Speaker 2: sano a sound body in a sound mind. He believed 130 00:09:42,962 --> 00:09:45,042 Speaker 2: the new Olympics should be the same. 131 00:09:46,042 --> 00:09:49,042 Speaker 1: Players of Sokka have lost all feelings for the beauty 132 00:09:49,042 --> 00:09:51,642 Speaker 1: of the classic authairs ends that the fact they have 133 00:09:51,762 --> 00:09:55,522 Speaker 1: won a fifteen one hundred meter race granders are runners 134 00:09:55,682 --> 00:10:00,522 Speaker 1: absolutely inept to turn a sentence into good French. Very well. 135 00:10:00,882 --> 00:10:03,842 Speaker 1: We raise the Italians for Kuberton. 136 00:10:03,962 --> 00:10:07,682 Speaker 4: The Olympics always had to be a pedagogical project for 137 00:10:07,762 --> 00:10:11,122 Speaker 4: sort of improving and broadening the minds of the youth 138 00:10:11,162 --> 00:10:14,522 Speaker 4: in addition to their bodies, and it was a political 139 00:10:14,722 --> 00:10:20,202 Speaker 4: project that was in line with his democratic values and internationalism. 140 00:10:20,682 --> 00:10:25,162 Speaker 2: There was just one problem with Kubertan's vision. It was 141 00:10:25,402 --> 00:10:26,562 Speaker 2: factually wrong. 142 00:10:27,802 --> 00:10:31,682 Speaker 4: At Olympia. It didn't have specifically the contests and awards 143 00:10:31,762 --> 00:10:33,282 Speaker 4: for artists as there might have been at some of 144 00:10:33,282 --> 00:10:34,082 Speaker 4: the minor games. 145 00:10:34,682 --> 00:10:39,442 Speaker 2: The ancient Greeks hosted four different athletic festivals. There was 146 00:10:39,482 --> 00:10:43,562 Speaker 2: the big one, the Olympics, which honored Zeus, but they 147 00:10:43,642 --> 00:10:48,442 Speaker 2: also hosted the Pythian, Nemean and Isthmian Games. My favorite, 148 00:10:48,442 --> 00:10:51,122 Speaker 2: by the way, is the Nemean Games because the winners 149 00:10:51,442 --> 00:10:57,042 Speaker 2: received a wreath made out of celery at these smaller games. 150 00:10:57,122 --> 00:11:01,322 Speaker 2: The Greeks indeed did host arts competitions. 151 00:11:01,362 --> 00:11:05,722 Speaker 4: So at the ancient Panthalantic Games there were these contests 152 00:11:05,762 --> 00:11:08,802 Speaker 4: known as the musikos ag On or you know, musical 153 00:11:08,842 --> 00:11:10,882 Speaker 4: competitions or artistic competitions. 154 00:11:11,682 --> 00:11:15,522 Speaker 2: The winners in the minor games, for instance, a celery 155 00:11:15,682 --> 00:11:19,682 Speaker 2: wearing flute player would get an invite to perform at 156 00:11:19,762 --> 00:11:20,602 Speaker 2: the Olympics. 157 00:11:21,322 --> 00:11:24,242 Speaker 4: So it was kind of a cultural festeral Olympia. 158 00:11:24,802 --> 00:11:29,282 Speaker 2: There were artists everywhere. There were the winning musicians, of course, 159 00:11:29,362 --> 00:11:33,402 Speaker 2: but there were also sculptors who would memorialize the winning 160 00:11:33,482 --> 00:11:37,962 Speaker 2: athlete in stone, and there were lots of poets recording 161 00:11:38,082 --> 00:11:42,402 Speaker 2: the events in verse, including one guy named Pindar. 162 00:11:43,322 --> 00:11:47,282 Speaker 4: Pindar the famous poet of that period and of those games. 163 00:11:47,482 --> 00:11:52,762 Speaker 4: This meant reciting odes in celebration of victors at the games, just. 164 00:11:52,762 --> 00:11:55,642 Speaker 5: As what is the most precious of all elements, just 165 00:11:55,682 --> 00:11:58,282 Speaker 5: as gold is the most valuable of all goods. And 166 00:11:58,442 --> 00:12:00,762 Speaker 5: just as the sun shines brought to then any other star, 167 00:12:01,162 --> 00:12:05,562 Speaker 5: so shines Olympia, putting all of the games into the shade. 168 00:12:05,962 --> 00:12:10,282 Speaker 2: Pindar also wrote poems for the winning athletes. He wrote 169 00:12:10,362 --> 00:12:14,602 Speaker 2: verses for Hippocles of Fessle, winner of the long foot race, 170 00:12:15,042 --> 00:12:18,562 Speaker 2: and a poem for Megacles of Athens for hitting the 171 00:12:18,602 --> 00:12:22,082 Speaker 2: finish line first with his chariot. And of course, who 172 00:12:22,122 --> 00:12:26,002 Speaker 2: can't forget his ode to a boy boxing champion. 173 00:12:26,642 --> 00:12:30,562 Speaker 6: Son of Orchestrado's a jesse damos know certainly that for 174 00:12:30,642 --> 00:12:33,362 Speaker 6: thy boxing, I will lay a glory of sweet strains 175 00:12:33,442 --> 00:12:36,082 Speaker 6: upon thy crown of golden olive. 176 00:12:36,802 --> 00:12:40,322 Speaker 2: Much like how we play the winner's national anthem. After 177 00:12:40,402 --> 00:12:44,522 Speaker 2: an Olympic win. At the ancient Games, the athlete got 178 00:12:44,522 --> 00:12:48,162 Speaker 2: to hear Pindar's celebratory poems read out loud. 179 00:12:48,882 --> 00:12:51,242 Speaker 4: He might have followed certain victors to their home cities 180 00:12:51,402 --> 00:12:52,922 Speaker 4: so that the home city could have a moment of 181 00:12:52,922 --> 00:12:54,802 Speaker 4: celebration and hear Pindar's ode. 182 00:12:55,202 --> 00:12:58,562 Speaker 2: So while Pierre de Cooper tomp might have been fuzzy 183 00:12:58,722 --> 00:13:03,482 Speaker 2: on the technical details of the old arts competitions, he 184 00:13:03,642 --> 00:13:07,922 Speaker 2: wanted the new Olympics to have the same merit, and 185 00:13:08,162 --> 00:13:11,282 Speaker 2: frankly he felt pretty strongly about it. 186 00:13:12,042 --> 00:13:19,042 Speaker 1: We absolutely must organize our competition. If not Olympism, we'll fail. 187 00:13:19,962 --> 00:13:23,242 Speaker 2: After all, Who knows, maybe a modern Pindar was out 188 00:13:23,282 --> 00:13:28,322 Speaker 2: there waiting to woo the world with his poems. So now, 189 00:13:28,362 --> 00:13:32,202 Speaker 2: at the turn of the twentieth century, Kubertant started working 190 00:13:32,522 --> 00:13:36,682 Speaker 2: to bring the arts into the Olympic fold. It was 191 00:13:36,882 --> 00:13:41,762 Speaker 2: frankly perfect timing one hundred and twenty years ago, artists 192 00:13:41,882 --> 00:13:47,562 Speaker 2: started to embrace the idea of turning art into a competition. 193 00:13:48,282 --> 00:13:50,002 Speaker 4: There are a number of writers like Paula Deli who 194 00:13:50,082 --> 00:13:52,082 Speaker 4: start to think, oh, maybe the future of literature will 195 00:13:52,122 --> 00:13:52,882 Speaker 4: be that of a sport. 196 00:13:53,762 --> 00:13:58,602 Speaker 2: Art like sport, required effort and training. You had to 197 00:13:58,642 --> 00:14:02,762 Speaker 2: devote yourself to your craft, and like athletes, a little 198 00:14:02,762 --> 00:14:07,682 Speaker 2: bit of talent didn't hurt either. The world also felt smaller. 199 00:14:08,042 --> 00:14:12,002 Speaker 2: Writers and artists were starting to compare themselves more and 200 00:14:12,082 --> 00:14:17,122 Speaker 2: more to other artists across the globe, both dead and alive. 201 00:14:17,922 --> 00:14:22,362 Speaker 4: Writers thinking competitively about their relationship to the canon, or 202 00:14:22,362 --> 00:14:25,122 Speaker 4: to other stars at their time, or to the idea 203 00:14:25,202 --> 00:14:27,242 Speaker 4: of being a champion and challenger at the same time. 204 00:14:27,842 --> 00:14:31,722 Speaker 2: All events, to say, Kuberton's idea to turn the Olympics 205 00:14:31,762 --> 00:14:37,482 Speaker 2: into an art and athletics competition had legs, so in 206 00:14:37,522 --> 00:14:41,082 Speaker 2: May nineteen oh six, he introduced the idea at a 207 00:14:41,162 --> 00:14:42,842 Speaker 2: conference Jentlement. 208 00:14:43,162 --> 00:14:46,362 Speaker 1: We are gathered to Gazia in this dwelling to celebrate 209 00:14:46,522 --> 00:14:50,642 Speaker 1: a singular ceremony. We are to reunite in the brands 210 00:14:50,682 --> 00:14:57,082 Speaker 1: of legitimate ree lach a long divorced couple Muscle and mind. 211 00:14:58,002 --> 00:15:03,442 Speaker 2: Kubertant was going to combine muscle and mind the athletic competitions. 212 00:15:03,922 --> 00:15:07,482 Speaker 2: They'd be joined by what he called a pentathl of 213 00:15:07,562 --> 00:15:12,962 Speaker 2: the muses for artists, and to ensure the pentathlon was 214 00:15:13,002 --> 00:15:23,882 Speaker 2: a success, Kubertant would essentially create burner accounts. When Pierre 215 00:15:23,962 --> 00:15:28,802 Speaker 2: de Kubertant introduced his idea of arts contests at the Olympics, 216 00:15:29,362 --> 00:15:31,202 Speaker 2: not everybody was on board. 217 00:15:32,122 --> 00:15:35,282 Speaker 4: Kubertan met resistance in the early years to this idea. 218 00:15:35,402 --> 00:15:37,802 Speaker 4: He was trying to put out newspaper articles and magazine 219 00:15:37,842 --> 00:15:41,682 Speaker 4: articles and speeches in favor of an Olympic art program. 220 00:15:42,722 --> 00:15:47,002 Speaker 2: That again is Miles Osgood of Stanford, and he says 221 00:15:47,122 --> 00:15:50,922 Speaker 2: that Pierre de Kubertant would not be dissuaded. With his 222 00:15:51,242 --> 00:15:55,282 Speaker 2: site set on the nineteen twelve Games in Stockholm. He 223 00:15:55,482 --> 00:15:59,962 Speaker 2: kept pushing for the idea of arts competition, and the 224 00:16:00,082 --> 00:16:05,802 Speaker 2: arts they pushed back. Kubertant had trouble getting the world's 225 00:16:05,882 --> 00:16:10,602 Speaker 2: greatest artists to believe him. Look no further than the 226 00:16:10,642 --> 00:16:15,522 Speaker 2: gold medal winner of the nineteen twelve literature contest. The 227 00:16:15,562 --> 00:16:20,562 Speaker 2: winners two guys from France and Germany, George Harrod and 228 00:16:20,882 --> 00:16:26,282 Speaker 2: Martin Eschbach. They won the literature competition for this utterly 229 00:16:26,562 --> 00:16:29,802 Speaker 2: underwhelming poem. 230 00:16:29,162 --> 00:16:34,522 Speaker 1: Oh Sport, pleasure of the gods essence of life, You 231 00:16:34,722 --> 00:16:39,402 Speaker 1: appeared suddenly in the midst of the gray clearing which 232 00:16:39,522 --> 00:16:44,802 Speaker 1: arise with the drudgery of modern existence, like the radiant 233 00:16:44,922 --> 00:16:50,922 Speaker 1: messenger of a past age when mankind still smiled. 234 00:16:52,322 --> 00:16:56,682 Speaker 4: It's an overblown and slightly ridiculous poem. It proceeds praising 235 00:16:56,762 --> 00:16:59,762 Speaker 4: sport over and over, so, oh Sport, you are beauty, 236 00:16:59,922 --> 00:17:03,482 Speaker 4: Oh Sport, you are piece. Oh Sport, you are for kundity, 237 00:17:03,562 --> 00:17:08,122 Speaker 4: where he gets into some of that problematic Lamarckian eugenics material. 238 00:17:10,282 --> 00:17:13,482 Speaker 2: There's a whole section in the poem where the writers 239 00:17:13,522 --> 00:17:18,722 Speaker 2: talk about destroying quote unhealthy seed and correcting the flaws 240 00:17:18,762 --> 00:17:23,522 Speaker 2: which threaten its essential purity, which, looking back, is a 241 00:17:23,522 --> 00:17:29,482 Speaker 2: bit woof the whole eugenics thing aside, this poem highlighted 242 00:17:29,522 --> 00:17:34,442 Speaker 2: another big problem with the early Olympic art contests, like 243 00:17:34,682 --> 00:17:37,642 Speaker 2: come on, have you ever heard of the poet George 244 00:17:37,682 --> 00:17:42,122 Speaker 2: Horod and Martin Eshbach. Of course you haven't, because neither 245 00:17:42,162 --> 00:17:46,402 Speaker 2: of them was even real. The real author of the 246 00:17:46,442 --> 00:17:51,442 Speaker 2: poem was ahem Pierre de Coorbatan. 247 00:17:55,242 --> 00:17:59,802 Speaker 4: In nineteen twelve, when kubertas submits a poem to the 248 00:17:59,922 --> 00:18:03,882 Speaker 4: Stockholm for the first Olympic art competitions. He decides to 249 00:18:04,082 --> 00:18:05,842 Speaker 4: conceal the fact that, as the founder of the Games, 250 00:18:05,842 --> 00:18:08,762 Speaker 4: it's him submitting a poem by using two pseudonyms. 251 00:18:09,162 --> 00:18:13,882 Speaker 2: In other words, the original artistic contests were so poorly 252 00:18:13,962 --> 00:18:19,402 Speaker 2: attended and so underwhelming that the founder of the Olympics 253 00:18:19,602 --> 00:18:25,042 Speaker 2: boosted the numbers by entering himself into the competition, and 254 00:18:25,282 --> 00:18:31,082 Speaker 2: the competition was so bad he won gold, which today 255 00:18:31,442 --> 00:18:33,402 Speaker 2: might have been something of a scandal. 256 00:18:34,322 --> 00:18:36,722 Speaker 4: It seems to have kind of gotten swept under the 257 00:18:36,762 --> 00:18:41,202 Speaker 4: rug somehow. I think he revealed it about seven years later. 258 00:18:43,122 --> 00:18:46,602 Speaker 2: The fact that there was never any scandal, however, points 259 00:18:46,642 --> 00:18:51,362 Speaker 2: to just how low stakes those original arts contests were. 260 00:18:52,562 --> 00:18:57,082 Speaker 2: During these nineteen twelve Games, there were around just thirty 261 00:18:57,202 --> 00:19:03,442 Speaker 2: five entrants in all categories, and only four artists competed 262 00:19:03,482 --> 00:19:09,002 Speaker 2: in the painting contest. It wasn't a total failure, of course. 263 00:19:09,482 --> 00:19:13,922 Speaker 2: There were some big names in the fray. Jean Francois Rafalier, 264 00:19:13,962 --> 00:19:18,522 Speaker 2: a friend of the superstar French impressionist Edgar Degas, competed 265 00:19:19,202 --> 00:19:24,162 Speaker 2: but lost, and in the sculpture category, Rembrandt Bugatti, who 266 00:19:24,242 --> 00:19:28,242 Speaker 2: was then regarded as the next coming of Leonardo da Vinci, 267 00:19:28,722 --> 00:19:34,562 Speaker 2: also competed, oh and lost. An interesting twist that you 268 00:19:34,682 --> 00:19:39,442 Speaker 2: might enjoy for pub night trivia, Bugatti lost to an 269 00:19:39,482 --> 00:19:43,802 Speaker 2: American sculptor named Walter Winnins, who happens to be just 270 00:19:43,962 --> 00:19:47,162 Speaker 2: one of two people to have won an Olympic medal 271 00:19:47,202 --> 00:19:51,282 Speaker 2: in both art and athletics. Not only did his sculpture 272 00:19:51,402 --> 00:19:54,362 Speaker 2: win the gold, but years earlier he took home a 273 00:19:54,402 --> 00:20:00,562 Speaker 2: medal in pistol shooting. Anyway, over the next few years, 274 00:20:00,682 --> 00:20:06,762 Speaker 2: the Olympic art contests continued to sputter. In nineteen sixteen, 275 00:20:07,122 --> 00:20:11,282 Speaker 2: World War One interrupted the Games. There were no art 276 00:20:11,362 --> 00:20:16,642 Speaker 2: contests to be held, and during the nineteen twenty Games 277 00:20:16,682 --> 00:20:21,082 Speaker 2: in Antwerp, Belgium, the judging in the arts competition was 278 00:20:21,162 --> 00:20:24,082 Speaker 2: a bit shall we say biased. 279 00:20:24,882 --> 00:20:27,722 Speaker 4: The art competitions were just an opportunity to celebrate local 280 00:20:27,762 --> 00:20:30,282 Speaker 4: Belgian artists. About six of the eleven who won medals 281 00:20:30,282 --> 00:20:30,922 Speaker 4: were Belgians. 282 00:20:31,682 --> 00:20:35,722 Speaker 2: By now, Pierre de Corbetant was getting old. He announced 283 00:20:35,842 --> 00:20:39,202 Speaker 2: that the nineteen twenty four Games in his beloved home 284 00:20:39,282 --> 00:20:43,442 Speaker 2: of Paris would be his last to organize, and he 285 00:20:43,562 --> 00:20:45,522 Speaker 2: vowed to go out with a bang. 286 00:20:46,242 --> 00:20:50,402 Speaker 1: There is a need for something else besides athletics and sport. 287 00:20:50,922 --> 00:20:56,122 Speaker 1: We wanted presence of national genius, the collaboration of the muses, 288 00:20:56,242 --> 00:21:00,282 Speaker 1: the Colta bute, all the display pertaining to the strong 289 00:21:00,402 --> 00:21:04,642 Speaker 1: symbolism incarnate in the past by the Olympic Games, and 290 00:21:04,762 --> 00:21:09,682 Speaker 1: which must continue to be represented in our modern times. 291 00:21:10,642 --> 00:21:14,762 Speaker 2: Kubertant and his underlings at the IOC threw everything they 292 00:21:14,802 --> 00:21:19,922 Speaker 2: had into attracting the best artistic talent. They notified the 293 00:21:19,962 --> 00:21:24,002 Speaker 2: ambassadors to foreign nations that there would be an arts contest. 294 00:21:24,362 --> 00:21:27,442 Speaker 2: They got the French Academy of Fine Arts to sign on. 295 00:21:28,042 --> 00:21:31,802 Speaker 2: They even invited artists to help draw up the rules 296 00:21:31,882 --> 00:21:36,122 Speaker 2: for competition. The move helped build hype for the Games, 297 00:21:36,522 --> 00:21:40,322 Speaker 2: and it turned the nineteen twenty four Olympics into a 298 00:21:40,402 --> 00:21:43,082 Speaker 2: bonafide artistic bonanza. 299 00:21:43,242 --> 00:21:45,842 Speaker 4: Nineteen twenty four is the pivot in a direction of 300 00:21:45,842 --> 00:21:49,202 Speaker 4: trying to attract more highbrow talent. 301 00:21:49,882 --> 00:21:52,842 Speaker 2: This included some big name judges too. 302 00:21:53,442 --> 00:21:57,682 Speaker 4: You've got Stravinsky, Bartalk and Revel and music. You've got Vardiri, 303 00:21:58,362 --> 00:22:02,322 Speaker 4: Aedith Wharton and Maurice maderlink in literature. 304 00:22:03,242 --> 00:22:07,082 Speaker 2: Now, this had a way of enhancing the talent entering 305 00:22:07,162 --> 00:22:12,602 Speaker 2: the contests artists realized, hey Stravinsky will hear my song, 306 00:22:12,922 --> 00:22:17,082 Speaker 2: or hey Edith Wharton will read my poem. They hopped 307 00:22:17,122 --> 00:22:20,802 Speaker 2: at the chance to have their work reviewed by household names. 308 00:22:21,402 --> 00:22:25,682 Speaker 2: People like Robert Graves, the famous British war poet, submitted 309 00:22:25,722 --> 00:22:30,122 Speaker 2: some verses. Jack B. Yates, arguably the most famous painter 310 00:22:30,242 --> 00:22:34,122 Speaker 2: in Irish history and the brother of poet William Butler. 311 00:22:34,162 --> 00:22:36,402 Speaker 2: Yates entered and won silver. 312 00:22:37,362 --> 00:22:40,762 Speaker 4: You get these wonderful submissions by Anritamo de Long, whose 313 00:22:40,762 --> 00:22:43,522 Speaker 4: Olympic book was actually at the top of many people's list, 314 00:22:43,562 --> 00:22:45,682 Speaker 4: to win the Prigan cour kind of the equivalent of 315 00:22:46,002 --> 00:22:47,802 Speaker 4: the Pulitzer Prize. In France that year. 316 00:22:48,642 --> 00:22:52,602 Speaker 2: In addition to the contests, there was a huge cultural 317 00:22:52,762 --> 00:22:56,922 Speaker 2: festival that brought in big name artists who, while not 318 00:22:57,042 --> 00:23:01,962 Speaker 2: competing for medals, were showing off their stuff for Olympic audiences. 319 00:23:02,642 --> 00:23:06,002 Speaker 2: Take for instance, this show at the Champs Elise. 320 00:23:05,802 --> 00:23:11,362 Speaker 4: Theater, including a collaboration of modernists Jean Cocteau, Darius Milo, 321 00:23:11,482 --> 00:23:14,202 Speaker 4: one of the members of Lesis, the six major composers 322 00:23:14,642 --> 00:23:18,522 Speaker 4: Coco Chanel and Pablo Picasso, and the cubis Ari Laureent, 323 00:23:18,682 --> 00:23:23,162 Speaker 4: all contributing together to put on a ballet that is 324 00:23:23,202 --> 00:23:27,122 Speaker 4: about beachside athletes on the French Riviera. 325 00:23:28,162 --> 00:23:31,322 Speaker 2: All of that's to say the nineteen twenty four arts 326 00:23:31,362 --> 00:23:36,082 Speaker 2: competition was a hit. The same was true a couple 327 00:23:36,162 --> 00:23:40,762 Speaker 2: years later in nineteen thirty two, when Los Angeles hosted. 328 00:23:41,202 --> 00:23:43,922 Speaker 4: Los Angeles globalizes the Olympics in a way that they 329 00:23:43,962 --> 00:23:47,722 Speaker 4: hadn't reached before. Now we're getting Japanese athletes and Japanese artists. 330 00:23:47,882 --> 00:23:50,522 Speaker 4: Now we're getting athletes and artists from Latin America. 331 00:23:51,522 --> 00:23:56,162 Speaker 2: The arts competitions were becoming more of an international phenomenon. 332 00:23:56,922 --> 00:24:00,722 Speaker 2: Galleries at the Los Angeles Museum of History, Science and 333 00:24:00,962 --> 00:24:05,842 Speaker 2: Art hosted eleven hundred artworks from five hundred and forty artists. 334 00:24:06,362 --> 00:24:09,722 Speaker 2: That includes I did pieces that are still relevant today, 335 00:24:10,242 --> 00:24:15,122 Speaker 2: pieces like Maunri Young's gold winning sculpture of two boxers 336 00:24:15,242 --> 00:24:20,202 Speaker 2: fighting today it's at the Smithsonian, or a metal winning 337 00:24:20,242 --> 00:24:26,642 Speaker 2: sculpture by Frederick Macmoney's celebrating the first transatlantic flight. Today 338 00:24:26,722 --> 00:24:30,162 Speaker 2: that work is at the MET. Visitors came to see 339 00:24:30,202 --> 00:24:33,082 Speaker 2: these and other works by the thousands. 340 00:24:34,162 --> 00:24:37,122 Speaker 4: So all that leads to an exhibition that is attended 341 00:24:37,162 --> 00:24:40,882 Speaker 4: by almost four hundred thousand visitors, which is a scale 342 00:24:40,922 --> 00:24:42,202 Speaker 4: that hadn't been reached before. 343 00:24:43,082 --> 00:24:47,962 Speaker 2: The Los Angeles Games were a triumph of Kuberton's original vision, 344 00:24:48,562 --> 00:24:57,482 Speaker 2: a spectacle of muscle and mind. And then the nineteen 345 00:24:57,562 --> 00:25:02,842 Speaker 2: thirty six Olympics happened in Berlin, Germany. France refused to 346 00:25:02,962 --> 00:25:07,242 Speaker 2: participate in the arts competitions. Britain too, so. 347 00:25:07,202 --> 00:25:09,762 Speaker 4: The Nazis did not want the Olympics at first, right 348 00:25:09,842 --> 00:25:11,802 Speaker 4: Hitler at first wanted nothing to do with it. The 349 00:25:11,842 --> 00:25:15,842 Speaker 4: spirit of internationalism, the democratic spirit that Gubertin put forth, 350 00:25:15,882 --> 00:25:19,042 Speaker 4: did not seem at all in line with Nazi principles. 351 00:25:20,042 --> 00:25:23,482 Speaker 2: But the Nazis changed their mind about that when they 352 00:25:23,562 --> 00:25:27,522 Speaker 2: realized that the Olympics could be distorted in their favor. 353 00:25:28,282 --> 00:25:32,842 Speaker 2: Because the Nazis noticed something about the previous Olympic Games. 354 00:25:33,642 --> 00:25:37,922 Speaker 2: Despite the big names, despite the glitz and glamour and 355 00:25:38,122 --> 00:25:43,442 Speaker 2: growing crowds, the artists who usually won the medals were 356 00:25:43,442 --> 00:25:45,602 Speaker 2: not pushing the envelope. 357 00:25:46,162 --> 00:25:49,682 Speaker 4: All of these amateur or academic artists that competed and 358 00:25:49,722 --> 00:25:52,962 Speaker 4: won medals, their work looks a little bit boring or conservative, 359 00:25:53,002 --> 00:25:56,402 Speaker 4: or traditional, or just or in some case commercial. We're 360 00:25:56,442 --> 00:25:57,322 Speaker 4: just not very daring. 361 00:25:58,162 --> 00:26:02,242 Speaker 2: And that's because of Pierre de Corbetan Kubertant was an 362 00:26:02,322 --> 00:26:07,642 Speaker 2: aristocrat and by nature had something of a nineteenth century mindset, 363 00:26:08,322 --> 00:26:11,002 Speaker 2: which is a fancy way of saying he was a 364 00:26:11,002 --> 00:26:13,402 Speaker 2: fuddy duddy. 365 00:26:12,482 --> 00:26:15,082 Speaker 4: Always taking the safe route of Okay, here's a new 366 00:26:15,122 --> 00:26:19,842 Speaker 4: pindaric ode, or here's a new myronic classical sculpture, here's 367 00:26:19,882 --> 00:26:24,482 Speaker 4: another kind of nineteenth century Romantic or Impressionist painting. Nothing 368 00:26:24,522 --> 00:26:27,482 Speaker 4: that was really pushing the boundaries of the form. 369 00:26:27,722 --> 00:26:31,522 Speaker 2: The Olympics, in other words, were not a place where 370 00:26:31,522 --> 00:26:37,642 Speaker 2: the avant garde flourished, which played nicely into the Nazis' ideology. 371 00:26:38,642 --> 00:26:41,722 Speaker 4: This is a period where the Nazis are already interested 372 00:26:42,042 --> 00:26:45,002 Speaker 4: in trying to distinguish what they deemed to be degenerate 373 00:26:45,162 --> 00:26:49,162 Speaker 4: art from state art and especially neoclassical art, and the 374 00:26:49,282 --> 00:26:52,322 Speaker 4: art competitions up to that point had already done a 375 00:26:52,322 --> 00:26:55,682 Speaker 4: pretty good job of showing those two art movements as 376 00:26:55,762 --> 00:26:59,482 Speaker 4: rivals and of upholding the more classical traditional standards of 377 00:26:59,562 --> 00:27:02,882 Speaker 4: nineteenth century aesthetics or neoclassical aesthetics. So in some ways 378 00:27:03,002 --> 00:27:06,722 Speaker 4: the art competitions were a good fit for what Gerbel's 379 00:27:06,922 --> 00:27:10,242 Speaker 4: and Hitler and the rest of the Nazi idealogues maybe 380 00:27:10,282 --> 00:27:11,642 Speaker 4: wanted to promote aesthetically. 381 00:27:12,442 --> 00:27:15,962 Speaker 2: As a result, a lot of artists skipped the nineteen 382 00:27:16,042 --> 00:27:20,882 Speaker 2: thirty six Olympics entirely, which apparently was a smart move. 383 00:27:21,642 --> 00:27:26,202 Speaker 2: The judges seemed to favor conservative artworks from fascist leaning 384 00:27:26,282 --> 00:27:31,962 Speaker 2: countries anyway. Take the winner of the painting category, Rudolph 385 00:27:32,002 --> 00:27:36,962 Speaker 2: Hermann Eisenmenger, an Austrian who, in addition to having the 386 00:27:37,002 --> 00:27:41,842 Speaker 2: world's most Germanic sounding name, is most famous for his 387 00:27:41,962 --> 00:27:47,722 Speaker 2: work containing swastikas. In other words, the whole Nazi thing 388 00:27:48,042 --> 00:27:53,002 Speaker 2: made the nineteen thirty six arts contests a dud. The 389 00:27:53,002 --> 00:27:58,002 Speaker 2: next Olympics were originally slated for Japan, but World War 390 00:27:58,042 --> 00:28:01,842 Speaker 2: Two put the kaibosh on those plans, and in nineteen 391 00:28:01,922 --> 00:28:05,442 Speaker 2: forty four the Games got mixed again. By the time 392 00:28:05,522 --> 00:28:09,122 Speaker 2: the Games returned in nineteen forty eight in London, the 393 00:28:09,242 --> 00:28:14,162 Speaker 2: arts competitions had lost all momentum. The United States pulled 394 00:28:14,202 --> 00:28:17,802 Speaker 2: out entirely because of a lack of interest, and in 395 00:28:17,842 --> 00:28:22,602 Speaker 2: total there would be around two hundred fewer competitors in 396 00:28:22,722 --> 00:28:29,402 Speaker 2: nineteen forty eight. The result was an underwhelming contest. When 397 00:28:29,522 --> 00:28:35,442 Speaker 2: the Swiss architect Pierre Jeanree visited the Victoria and Albert 398 00:28:35,522 --> 00:28:39,042 Speaker 2: Museum to view the entries, he was disappointed. 399 00:28:40,082 --> 00:28:43,722 Speaker 1: One looks around the galleries, one had to deplored yet 400 00:28:43,802 --> 00:28:46,362 Speaker 1: sence of most of the best known living artists. 401 00:28:46,882 --> 00:28:49,002 Speaker 2: He wasn't the only one. 402 00:28:49,202 --> 00:28:51,722 Speaker 4: Commentator said, you know, oh, at the nineteen forty eight exhibition, 403 00:28:51,722 --> 00:28:53,482 Speaker 4: it would have been really nice to see a Matisse 404 00:28:53,602 --> 00:28:56,282 Speaker 4: or a broc or a Picasso. And the only thing 405 00:28:56,322 --> 00:28:58,002 Speaker 4: you can say to that is you kind of pushed 406 00:28:58,002 --> 00:29:00,602 Speaker 4: those artists away. Some of them were involved, you know, 407 00:29:00,682 --> 00:29:02,282 Speaker 4: some of them did. Some of them, like George Gross 408 00:29:02,362 --> 00:29:04,682 Speaker 4: or Walter Ropius, did compete in the competitions and didn't 409 00:29:04,682 --> 00:29:06,922 Speaker 4: win any medals. The others felt that, in some way 410 00:29:07,082 --> 00:29:08,082 Speaker 4: or another they were not welcome. 411 00:29:09,042 --> 00:29:12,402 Speaker 2: The Olympics had proven over and over again that it 412 00:29:12,482 --> 00:29:18,042 Speaker 2: didn't reward groundbreaking artists. By nineteen forty eight, it had 413 00:29:18,082 --> 00:29:23,002 Speaker 2: built up an impressive list of snubs. These celebrated English 414 00:29:23,082 --> 00:29:27,922 Speaker 2: poet Robert Graves no medals, Walter Gropius, the guy who 415 00:29:27,962 --> 00:29:33,602 Speaker 2: literally invented the Bauhause School of art, nothing Koshiro Chi, 416 00:29:33,722 --> 00:29:37,482 Speaker 2: whose work is in the MoMA and the British Museum Zilch. 417 00:29:38,242 --> 00:29:41,762 Speaker 2: On top of that, Avery Brundage, the vice president and 418 00:29:41,882 --> 00:29:46,082 Speaker 2: soon to be President of the International Olympic Committee was 419 00:29:46,162 --> 00:29:49,842 Speaker 2: upset that none of the artists had been true amateurs. 420 00:29:50,522 --> 00:29:54,562 Speaker 2: One of the founding principles of Olympic competition was that 421 00:29:54,602 --> 00:29:58,602 Speaker 2: the participants were supposed to be amateur. So this was 422 00:29:58,642 --> 00:29:59,362 Speaker 2: a big deal. 423 00:29:59,922 --> 00:30:02,242 Speaker 4: It was not appropriate to give medals to artists who 424 00:30:02,362 --> 00:30:05,082 Speaker 4: by and large were professionals at a time when athletes 425 00:30:05,122 --> 00:30:05,642 Speaker 4: couldn't do that. 426 00:30:07,162 --> 00:30:11,242 Speaker 2: For the winners, the Olympic Committee realized that many of 427 00:30:11,282 --> 00:30:13,562 Speaker 2: them were just okay. 428 00:30:14,482 --> 00:30:17,802 Speaker 4: That there is also just a realization that the art 429 00:30:17,802 --> 00:30:21,322 Speaker 4: competitions have not done a great job of collecting really 430 00:30:21,402 --> 00:30:24,642 Speaker 4: superior art that will last the test of time, or 431 00:30:24,682 --> 00:30:28,642 Speaker 4: that represents the great flourishing of avant garde and modern 432 00:30:28,842 --> 00:30:31,762 Speaker 4: art of that period of nineteen twelve to nineteen forty eight. 433 00:30:32,002 --> 00:30:33,602 Speaker 4: And of course, the funny thing about that, to me 434 00:30:34,322 --> 00:30:36,522 Speaker 4: is that that art certainly existed and certainly was part 435 00:30:36,562 --> 00:30:38,602 Speaker 4: of the exhibitions, it was just never rewarded. 436 00:30:40,202 --> 00:30:44,442 Speaker 2: So the IOC made a decision, because the contestants in 437 00:30:44,482 --> 00:30:49,162 Speaker 2: the art competition were almost all professionals, there shouldn't be medals. 438 00:30:49,602 --> 00:30:53,882 Speaker 2: It should be an exhibition. Some people inside the IOC 439 00:30:54,122 --> 00:30:59,042 Speaker 2: fought to revive Kuberton's original vision, but it was futile. 440 00:30:59,842 --> 00:31:04,282 Speaker 2: In nineteen fifty four, Kuberton's vision for art contests in 441 00:31:04,322 --> 00:31:10,082 Speaker 2: the Olympics officially died. The contests became a footnote in 442 00:31:10,242 --> 00:31:15,602 Speaker 2: history books. Within a few decades, the Olympic Arts competitions 443 00:31:15,682 --> 00:31:20,162 Speaker 2: were practically forgotten. Many of the artworks went missing. 444 00:31:20,922 --> 00:31:22,842 Speaker 4: A lot of Olympic artworks have been lost to time. 445 00:31:23,362 --> 00:31:25,562 Speaker 4: A lot of them probably aren't in a museum. They're 446 00:31:25,562 --> 00:31:28,202 Speaker 4: probably in some private collection, or they've just been lost 447 00:31:28,242 --> 00:31:28,962 Speaker 4: one way or another. 448 00:31:31,962 --> 00:31:35,482 Speaker 2: In the late nineteen nineties, a guy named Richard Stanton 449 00:31:35,602 --> 00:31:40,722 Speaker 2: started to wonder where did they go? He visited Switzerland, 450 00:31:40,922 --> 00:31:45,482 Speaker 2: poured through the Olympic Museum archives and searched for relics 451 00:31:45,562 --> 00:31:50,162 Speaker 2: from the art contests. His book The Forgotten Olympic Art 452 00:31:50,242 --> 00:31:53,842 Speaker 2: Competitions is the source for all of our quotes from 453 00:31:53,922 --> 00:31:58,202 Speaker 2: Pierre de Coubertant. Then a few years later, our guest 454 00:31:58,362 --> 00:32:02,282 Speaker 2: Miles Osgood took up the mantle. For the last few 455 00:32:02,362 --> 00:32:07,362 Speaker 2: years he's been building a digital archive and database all 456 00:32:07,402 --> 00:32:10,122 Speaker 2: of the known artistic entries and winners. 457 00:32:11,042 --> 00:32:13,402 Speaker 4: Given that they are about three thousand artworks, and I 458 00:32:13,442 --> 00:32:17,442 Speaker 4: think I only have digital images of a few hundred 459 00:32:17,482 --> 00:32:19,642 Speaker 4: of those. I'm sure there are more to be found, 460 00:32:19,722 --> 00:32:22,922 Speaker 4: but I also wonder whether some will just permanently disappear. 461 00:32:23,682 --> 00:32:26,722 Speaker 2: Some of the art has turned up in weird places 462 00:32:27,402 --> 00:32:32,082 Speaker 2: for years. One statue of a discus thrower stood unceremoniously 463 00:32:32,402 --> 00:32:36,122 Speaker 2: near a highway exit ramp in New York City. Another 464 00:32:36,242 --> 00:32:40,362 Speaker 2: medal winner, made by a Disney illustrator, was donated to 465 00:32:40,562 --> 00:32:45,242 Speaker 2: a high school before it went missing. But Miles has 466 00:32:45,362 --> 00:32:50,002 Speaker 2: made some progress. So far. He's found twenty five texts 467 00:32:50,082 --> 00:32:54,362 Speaker 2: from the literature contests, plus two hundred and eighty five 468 00:32:54,562 --> 00:33:00,722 Speaker 2: individual images from the painting, sculpture, and architecture. Many of these, 469 00:33:01,082 --> 00:33:04,682 Speaker 2: the ones not in private collections, are housed at the 470 00:33:04,722 --> 00:33:08,202 Speaker 2: Olympic Study Center in low Zon, Switzerland. 471 00:33:11,522 --> 00:33:16,242 Speaker 4: It's attached to a really lovely museum and just general 472 00:33:16,282 --> 00:33:20,322 Speaker 4: set of grounds right on Lake Geneva. So it's not 473 00:33:20,482 --> 00:33:23,642 Speaker 4: at all, you know, sort of a subterranean Indiana Jones 474 00:33:23,722 --> 00:33:26,562 Speaker 4: dusting off, you know, something that's crumbling under your fingertips. 475 00:33:26,762 --> 00:33:29,282 Speaker 4: It's very much the spirit of the original vision of 476 00:33:29,282 --> 00:33:32,682 Speaker 4: the Games of you know, let's study culture and run 477 00:33:32,722 --> 00:33:36,602 Speaker 4: around and practice sport in beautiful locations where the harmony 478 00:33:36,802 --> 00:33:40,882 Speaker 4: of the environment and the events happening on the microscale 479 00:33:41,202 --> 00:33:43,602 Speaker 4: are in some kind of alignment with one another. And 480 00:33:43,842 --> 00:33:46,322 Speaker 4: as part of those beautiful outdoor grounds where you would 481 00:33:46,362 --> 00:33:50,362 Speaker 4: go and eat your expensive Swiss sandwich, there are statues 482 00:33:50,402 --> 00:33:53,082 Speaker 4: all around you that are casts of some of the 483 00:33:53,082 --> 00:33:55,162 Speaker 4: Olympic artworks from the early twentieth century. 484 00:33:55,922 --> 00:33:58,842 Speaker 2: If you want to see some Olympic artworks for yourself, 485 00:33:59,122 --> 00:34:02,882 Speaker 2: hop on a flight to Switzerland. And if that's too 486 00:34:02,962 --> 00:34:06,802 Speaker 2: long of a haul, there's usually room on the elliptical 487 00:34:07,162 --> 00:34:09,642 Speaker 2: at the Payne Whitney Jim at Yale. 488 00:34:12,322 --> 00:34:15,322 Speaker 3: And with that, we've officially made it to the end 489 00:34:15,362 --> 00:34:18,762 Speaker 3: of season one. Thank you for joining us both today 490 00:34:18,962 --> 00:34:23,042 Speaker 3: and throughout the season. It's been an absolute blast making 491 00:34:23,082 --> 00:34:25,882 Speaker 3: this show. Like I said at the top, we're hard 492 00:34:25,922 --> 00:34:28,962 Speaker 3: at work on season two. Look for that in October. 493 00:34:29,642 --> 00:34:31,682 Speaker 3: If you need anything in these next few months, you 494 00:34:31,722 --> 00:34:36,042 Speaker 3: can email the show very Special episodes at gmail dot com. 495 00:34:36,842 --> 00:34:38,962 Speaker 3: I want to thank Dana and Zarin for agreeing to 496 00:34:39,002 --> 00:34:41,962 Speaker 3: do this in the first place and for being absolute pros. 497 00:34:42,562 --> 00:34:45,682 Speaker 3: I want to thank producer Josh for wrangling the ten 498 00:34:45,762 --> 00:34:48,562 Speaker 3: or twelve episodes we have going at any given time. 499 00:34:49,522 --> 00:34:53,282 Speaker 3: Story editor Marissa Brown, everyone who's writing and editing and researching, 500 00:34:54,602 --> 00:34:57,882 Speaker 3: Let's hit the credit to one more time. Very Special 501 00:34:57,962 --> 00:35:01,522 Speaker 3: Episodes is made by some very special people. The show 502 00:35:01,562 --> 00:35:05,682 Speaker 3: is hosted by Danish Swartz, Darren Burnett and me Jason English. 503 00:35:05,922 --> 00:35:09,602 Speaker 3: Today's episode was written by Lucas Riley. Our producer is 504 00:35:09,722 --> 00:35:14,522 Speaker 3: Josh Fisher. Our story editor is Marissa Brown. Editing and 505 00:35:14,562 --> 00:35:18,722 Speaker 3: sound designed by Jonathan Washington and Josh Fisher. Mixing and 506 00:35:18,762 --> 00:35:22,642 Speaker 3: mastering by the Heath Frasier. Original music by Elise McCoy. 507 00:35:23,562 --> 00:35:26,882 Speaker 3: Research in fact checking by Austin Thompson and Lucas Riley. 508 00:35:27,442 --> 00:35:30,762 Speaker 3: Show logo by Lucy Kintonia let Me Think. Today's voice 509 00:35:30,762 --> 00:35:34,642 Speaker 3: actors Jonathan Washington, Josh Fisher and Zaren Burnett. I'm your 510 00:35:34,682 --> 00:35:38,802 Speaker 3: executive producer. Very Special Episodes is a production of iHeart 511 00:35:38,842 --> 00:35:41,202 Speaker 3: Podcasts and We'll see all in October.