1944 Summer Olympics facts for kids
The 1944 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XIII Olympiad, were planned to be a big sports event. However, these games never happened.
The main reason the 1944 Olympics were cancelled was World War II. The war made it impossible for countries to send their athletes, and it wasn't safe to hold such a large international gathering.
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Where the Games Would Have Been
The city chosen to host the 1944 Summer Olympics was London, England. London won the chance to host in June 1939. They were picked over many other cities that wanted to host, including Rome, Detroit, Lausanne, Athens, Budapest, Helsinki, and Montreal.
After the war ended, London was chosen again to host the very next Olympic Games, the 1948 Summer Olympics. This time, they were given the games without needing to go through another selection process.
Celebrating the Olympic Spirit
Even though the war stopped the official games, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) still found a way to celebrate. The IOC is the group that organizes the Olympic Games.
In June 1944, the IOC held special events at their main office in Lausanne, Switzerland. These events celebrated the IOC's 50th birthday and were called "The Jubilee Celebrations of IOC." Carl Diem, who helped start the modern tradition of the Olympic torch relay, was involved in these celebrations.
The POW Olympics
A truly inspiring event happened during the war. Polish prisoners of war (POWs) were held in a camp called Woldenberg (Dobiegniew) Oflag II-C. Even though they were prisoners, their German captors allowed them to hold their own unofficial "POW Olympics" in 1944. This showed that the spirit of the Olympics – about fair play, friendship, and pushing yourself – could survive even in very difficult times like war.
Related Olympic Games
Images for kids
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A robot representing a child, symbolizing the target audience for this article.
 Olympic Games |
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| Summer Games: 1896, 1900, 1904, 1906, 1908, 1912, (1916), 1920, 1924, 1928, 1932, 1936, (1940), (1944), 1948, 1952, 1956, 1960, 1964, 1968, 1972, 1976, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020, 2024, 2028 |
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| Winter Games: 1924, 1928, 1932, 1936, (1940), (1944), 1948, 1952, 1956, 1960, 1964, 1968, 1972, 1976, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018, 2022 | ||
| Athens 2004 — Turin 2006 — Beijing 2008 — Vancouver 2010 — London 2012 — Sochi 2014 — Rio 2016 — Pyeongchang 2018 — Tokyo 2020 Games in italics will be held in the future, and those in (brackets) were cancelled because of war. See also: Ancient Olympic Games |
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| Youth Olympic Games |
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| Summer Games: 2010, 2014, 2018 | ||
| Winter Games: 2012, 2016, 2020 |
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| Singapore 2010 — Innsbruck 2012 — Nanjing 2014 |
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