United Team of Germany

United Team of Germany at the
Olympics
"Olympic" Flag of Germany,
defaced with white Olympic rings,
used 1960, 1964 (and 1968 by separated teams)
IOC code EUA
Summer appearances
Winter appearances
Other related appearances
Germany (all appearances)
East Germany (1968–1988)
West Germany (1968–1988)
Saar (1952)

The United Team of Germany (German: Gesamtdeutsche Mannschaft) competed in the 1956, 1960, and 1964 Winter and Summer Olympic Games as a united team of athletes from West Germany and East Germany. In 1956 the team also included athletes from a third Olympic body, the Saarland Olympic Committee, which had sent a separate team in 1952, but in 1956 was in the process of joining the German National Olympic Committee. This process was completed in February 1957 after the admission of Saarland into the Federal Republic of Germany.

History

As East Germany had introduced its own national anthem in 1949, Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 melody to Schiller's Ode an die Freude ("Ode to Joy") was played for winning German athletes as a compromise. In 1959, East Germany also introduced an altered black-red-gold tricolour flag of Germany as the flag of East Germany. Thus, a compromise had to be made also for the flag of the unified sports team. It was agreed upon to superimpose the plain flag with additional white Olympic rings. This flag was used from 1960 to 1968.

At the Games of 1956, 1960, and 1964 the team was simply known as "Germany" and the usual country code of GER was used, except at Innsbruck in 1964, when the Austrian hosts used the German language "D" for Deutschland.[1] Yet, the IOC code EUA (from the official French-language International Olympic Committee (IOC) designation, Équipe Unifiée d'Allemagne) is currently applied retrospectively in the IOC medal database, without further explanation given. Only in 1976 did the IOC start to assign standardized codes. Before that time, the local Organizing Committees of each Olympic Games had chosen codes, often in the local language, resulting in a multitude of codes.

In the 1968 Winter Olympics, East and West German athletes competed as separate teams while still using the compromise Olympic flag and Beethoven anthem. While today listed under the IOC codes of FRG (West) and GDR (East), respectively, in 1968 they were asymmetrically called in French Allemagne (Germany) and Allemagne de l'Est (East Germany), and in Spanish Alemania and Alemania del Este. The codes for Germany (West) were ALL (in Grenoble) and ALE (in Mexico City), and ADE for East Germany.

The separation was completed at the 1972 Summer Olympics with the use of separate flags and anthems. Because of the boycotts of the 1980 and 1984 summer games, only in 1972, 1976, and 1988 did two different German teams with different symbols compete against each other at Summer Olympics (not counting the Saar team of 1952). The German Democratic Republic ceased to exist after 1989, when it joined the Federal Republic of Germany in the process of German reunification in 1990.

Medal tables

Medals by Summer Games

Games Athletes Gold Silver Bronze Total Rank
Australia 1956 Melbourne1586137267
Italy 1960 Rome293121911424
Japan 1964 Tokyo337102218504
Total285436118

Medals by Winter Games

Games Athletes Gold Silver Bronze Total Rank
Italy 1956 Cortina d'Ampezzo6310129
United States 1960 Squaw Valley7443182
Austria 1964 Innsbruck9633396
Total86519

Medals by summer sport

Sport Gold Silver Bronze Total
Equestrian55414
Athletics418830
Canoeing45211
Rowing4419
Diving3104
Swimming15612
Wrestling1539
Cycling1427
Boxing1326
Fencing1124
Gymnastics1113
Sailing1113
Shooting1012
Judo0112
Field hockey0011
Football0011
Total285436118

Medals by winter sport

Sport Gold Silver Bronze Total
Luge2215
Alpine skiing2125
Figure skating1203
Speed skating1102
Nordic combined1012
Ski jumping1012
Total86519

See also

References

  1. Mallon, Bill; Ove Karlsson (May 2004). "IOC and OCOG Abbreviations for NOCs" (PDF). Journal of Olympic History. 12 (2): 25–28. Retrieved 2008-06-09.
  • "Results and Medalists — United Team of Germany". Olympic.org. International Olympic Committee.
  • "Olympic Medal Winners". International Olympic Committee.
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