Champion of the Arts: The Forgotten Olympic Games of the Early 20th Century

Pierre de Coubertin wanted the body and the mind to compete side by side. During a conference in Paris in 1906, he proposed artistic competitions to revive the ideals of ancient Greece, which led to their launch in Stockholm in 1912 with categories in architecture, literature, music, painting, and sculpture. 

Walter Winans of the United States won the gold medal in sculpture for “An American Trotter,” a bronze sculpture depicting a horse and a chariot, and also won the silver medal in shooting that same year. Several entries were submitted to the 1912 Stockholm Games in five categories, all of which required sports-related themes and originality. 

In fact, only 35 artists entered the competition in 1912, forcing the juries to leave most of the silver and bronze medals unawarded, as the entries did not meet the required standards. At the 1920 Antwerp Games, the recovery from World War I limited international participation so much that no gold medals were awarded in the architecture and painting categories. 

British poet Theodore Andrea Cook added a metaphorical touch by winning the silver medal in literature for “Olympic Games of Antwerp,” a self-referential poem that literally dealt with the Games in which he was participating. Due to the devastation caused by the war, the 1920 Antwerp Games revived the artistic competitions with five categories devoted exclusively to sports.

Jean Jacoby, from Luxembourg, won the gold medal in painting for “Sports Study,” depicting scenes from rugby and track and field, while the medals in music were eliminated entirely for reasons of quality. Igor Stravinsky served as a judge for the Olympic music competition when the 1924 Paris Games saw the number of participants rise to 193, from 24 countries.

Judging orchestral scores on paper without listening to them has created confusion that has undermined music competitions throughout their history. The Czechoslovakian Josef Suk won the silver medal in 1932 for “Toward a New Life” as a professional composer, thereby fueling the debate between amateurs and professionals.

Amsterdam marked the peak of the Olympic art competitions, attracting the largest number of international entries. The architecture and painting categories were particularly competitive, reflecting postwar optimism and trends in modern design. The volume and quality of the entries demonstrated a genuine global commitment.

Multi-medalists such as Poland’s Józef Klukowski won gold in 1932 for “Sport Sculpture” and silver in 1936, demonstrating their enduring talent in this forgotten visual category, which awarded a total of 34 medals across all Olympic Games. France’s Paul Landowski won gold in 1928 for “The Boxer.”

Starting in 1928, literature was divided into three categories: dramatic, epic, and lyric. The award-winning works ranged from epic poems celebrating endurance to reflective essays on discipline and fair play. This category demonstrated that the Olympic Games once placed as much importance on storytelling as on physical performance.

The 1932 Los Angeles Games were the subject of a museum exhibition that attracted 384,000 visitors, despite a reduced field of competitors due to the Great Depression—with only 87 participants—blending art with Hollywood glamour. American victories largely dominated, due to the small number of Europeans who made the costly trip.

Unfortunately, Berlin turned sports into a propaganda spectacle. At the time, the regime used grandiose architecture, mass rallies, and Leni Riefenstahl’s pioneering cinematic techniques to project an image of power, unity, and so-called supremacy. Strict control over public perception concealed persecution and militarism from foreign visitors.

The “urban planning” subcategory established in 1928 recognized urban developments, such as the gold medal awarded in 1936 to the March brothers for the Reich Sports Field, which combined utility and aesthetics in this practical art form that has since fallen into obscurity. Among the forgotten achievements is the gold medal awarded in 1948 to the Finnish architect Yrjö Lindegren for the “Varkaus Athletic Center.”

Women were underrepresented, reflecting the gender disparities at the Olympic Games, but the arts allowed for greater participation. Finland’s Aale Tynni won the gold medal in literature in 1948 for “Laurel of Hellas,” the only gold medal ever awarded to a woman in literature, highlighting rare successes in various fields despite persistent gender barriers. 

The 1928 exhibitions allowed for sales after the Games, sparking an outcry among art lovers but adding a commercial element to artistic judgment that highlighted the contradictions of the Olympic ideals. International juries faced accusations of bias due to national dominance and subjectivity, such as the absence of gold medals in the musical subcategories in 1948.

John Copley, a 73-year-old British artist, won a silver medal in engraving for “Polo Players.” The 1948 London Games, the last to feature artistic competitions, brought together approximately 170 participants in 14 subcategories amid a climate of austerity, marking the definitive end of medal events. 

Jean Jacoby, a native of Luxembourg, won two gold medals in painting (1924, “Sports Study”; 1928, “Rugby”). He became the only artist to have won two gold medals in the visual arts during these forgotten Olympic art competitions. In addition, Alex Diggelmann, a native of Switzerland, won a total of three medals.

Italy won 14 medals (5 gold, 7 silver, 2 bronze), while France won 13 (4 gold, 4 silver, 5 bronze); the discrepancies were resolved by the IOC’s 2021 updates, which excluded the awarding of the “Coubertin” honorary title. Germany dominated the overall standings with 24 medals (8 gold, 7 silver, 9 bronze) between 1912 and 1948.

A certain degree of hypocrisy was observed in the field of architecture, which allowed works to be published despite the stricter standards in force in the fields of literature and music. A total of 147 medals were awarded by the end of the Games, although earlier figures cite 151, including honorary medals. The IOC’s amateur rules clashed with professionals such as Josef Suk, who won the silver medal in music in 1932.

Unified categories, such as the gold medal in literature awarded in 1948 to Aale Tynni for her poems Hellas. This limited creative freedom but encouraged unique works at long-forgotten events dedicated to celebrating sports. All works had to be inspired by sports or the Olympic Games, which disqualified all others.

The postwar editions of 1920 and 1948 showed a certain degree of resilience, but saw lower participation. World War I and World War II led to the cancellation of the 1916, 1940, and 1944 Games, halting artistic evolution and potential additions—such as film—that could have modernized these competitions.