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[O]ne thing is beyond dispute: sport is the continuation of politics by other means.
'Sport auf Kinderbeinen', Die Zeit, 23 September 1966.
In examining the relationship between sport and politics one can find no better example of the inseparability of the two than the Olympic Games.1 The political dimension of the Olympics was particularly intense during the cold war, a 'war' characterised by its inherently political and propagandistic nature.2 During the cold war, sport was regarded as a legitimate vehicle for diplomacy in the promotion of ideology and national goals.3 This is hardly surprising, as sport was the ideal medium for conducting the cultural dimension of the cold war, even when the protagonists were engaged in political negotiations.4 Thus an understanding of British perspectives on the evolution of the relationship between the two German states and the Olympic movement after 1949 tells us a great deal about the way in which the British state conducted the cold war against the Soviet bloc.
Britain played an important role in the struggle between the two Germanys over the nature of Olympic representation for a number of reasons.5 First, as a signatory to the Potsdam Agreement of 2 August 1945,6 Britain had a major say in the making of any future German state, and the government of Clement Attlee played a significant role in the establishment of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG, West Germany) in 1949. Second, Britain was a key ally of the FRG from the latter's inception, and remained so throughout the cold war and the life of the West German state. 7 Third, Britain was a key target in the campaign by the 'other Germany' - the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) - for full international status.8 Fourth, as the 'inventors' of modern sport, Britain's influence within the Olympic movement was, in the words of one historian, 'out of all proportion to its increasingly modest athletic performance.'9
While there is a growing body of literature on relations between Britain and the GDR,10 this article seeks to place British perspectives on East German attempts to gain...