Why the Official Olympic Salute Vanished After the 1936 Berlin Games
In short: The official Olympic salute involves extending the right arm upward with palm out and fingers together. It predates the Nazi regime, yet after World War II, it became a social pariah. The gesture’s striking resemblance to the salute used by the Third Reich rendered it impossible to perform without causing confusion.
The Olympic salute requires holding the right arm out at an upward angle, slightly to the side, with the palm facing outward and fingers touching. While this gesture was once a common sight in Olympic posters, such as those for the 1924 Paris Games, its visual similarity to the Nazi salute led to its rapid decline. The confusion was particularly acute during the 1936 Berlin Olympics, where spectators often struggled to distinguish between teams honoring the Olympic tradition and those saluting the Fuhrer. In one notable instance, the French team received a standing ovation from the German crowd, who mistakenly believed the athletes were offering a salute to Hitler.
The origins of the gesture remain murky. Many believe both the Olympic and Nazi versions were inspired by an imaginary Roman salute—a concept popularized by 19th and 20th-century art despite a lack of historical Roman accounts. The salute was adopted by the Olympics and later by the Italian Fascist Party before being co-opted by the Nazis. Hitler claimed in a 1942 account that he first witnessed the gesture in a Bremen Ratskeller around 1921, interpreting it as an ancient custom signaling peaceful intentions by showing an empty hand.
Following the devastation of World War II, the Olympic salute effectively disappeared from public view. Although the International Olympic Committee has never formally replaced it, the gesture is now avoided entirely for fear of being misinterpreted. By 1948, the Ottawa Citizen reported that the salute would likely be discontinued, noting a Swiss proposal to replace it with a gesture involving turning the head sharply to the right while keeping hands at the sides. Ultimately, no official ban was required; the cultural weight of the Nazi association ensured the salute faded into obscurity on its own.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Why No One Uses the Official Olympic Salute Anymore
- Also: The Olympic Salute We Don’t Use Anymore Because it Looked too Much Like Heiling Hitler
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