Gliding Gliding is a recreational activity and competitive air sport in which pilots fly unpowered aircraft known as gliders or sailplanes using naturally occurring currents of rising air in the atmosphere to remain airborne. The word ''soaring'' is al ...

at the

1936 Summer Olympics The 1936 Summer Olympics (German: ''Olympische Sommerspiele 1936''), officially known as the Games of the XI Olympiad (German: ''Spiele der XI. Olympiade'') and commonly known as Berlin 1936 or the Nazi Olympics, were an international multi-sp ...

was a

demonstration sport A demonstration sport, or exhibition sport, is a sport which is played to promote it, rather than as part of standard medal competition. This occurs commonly during the Olympic Games, but may also occur at other sporting events. Demonstration spor ...

. The sport of gliding had been developed in Germany in the 1920s but had spread widely by 1936, allowing an international demonstration to the

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...

(IOC). No contest took place and no prizes were allowed by the IOC.

ISTUS This is a list of deities from the Greyhawk campaign setting for the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' fantasy role-playing game. A Al'Akbar Al'Akbar is the Baklunish demigod of dignity, duty, faithfulness, and guardianship. His symbol is a cup and eig ...

(Internationale Studienkommission für motorlosen Flug) which later became part of the

FAI Gliding Commission The International Gliding Commission (IGC) is the international governing body for the sport of gliding. It is governed by meetings of delegates from national gliding associations. It is one of several Air Sport Commissions (ASC) of the Fédérati ...

had wanted to present prizes, but this did not happen. However, a Swiss, Hermann Schreiber, was awarded a gold medal for his flight across the Alps in 1935. The demonstration at the 1936 Berlin Olympics was at

Berlin-Staaken Staaken () is a locality at the western rim of Berlin within the borough of Spandau. Geography Staaken borders on the localities of Spandau proper, Falkenhagener Feld and Wilhelmstadt. In the west it shares border with the Brandenburg municipal ...

airfield on 4 August. Twenty-one pilots from seven countries (Bulgaria, Italy, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Switzerland, Germany and Austria) took part, including Germany's

Hanna Reitsch Hanna Reitsch (29 March 1912 – 24 August 1979) was a German aviator and test pilot. Along with Melitta von Stauffenberg, she flight tested many of Germany's new aircraft during World War II and received many honors. Reitsch was amon ...

. On the previous day, a wing of a glider broke during an aerobatic flight by an Austrian, Ignaz Stiefsohn. He was killed. The Hungarian pilot, Lajos Rotter, declared on the evening of 10 August at

Rangsdorf Rangsdorf is a municipality in the district of Teltow-Fläming in Brandenburg in Germany. It has an airfield p to 1940 a genuine commercial airportfrom where on 20 July 1944 Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg took off on his fateful attempt to ass ...

that the next day he would fly to

Kiel Kiel () is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021). Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the J ...

, where Olympic sailing events were held. He then flew his Nemere glider to Kiel in poor weather. On arrival over Kiel at an altitude of 650 m he saluted the Olympic site with two loops and landed at

Holtenau Holtenau (; Danish: Holtenå) is a district of Kiel, on the southeastern part of the Danish Wahld. It was historically part of the Duchy of Schleswig, and has cultural influences from both Germany and Denmark. The district is located at the mouth ...

4hr 31min after launch. The distance flown was 336.5 km. This was then the longest pre-declared goal flight by a

glider Glider may refer to: Aircraft and transport Aircraft * Glider (aircraft), heavier-than-air aircraft primarily intended for unpowered flight ** Glider (sailplane), a rigid-winged glider aircraft with an undercarriage, used in the sport of glidin ...

. Gliding was officially accepted by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) at their 1938 Cairo Conference as part of the "facultative" (optional) group of sports, and was to be staged for the first time in the

1940 Summer Olympics The 1940 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XII Olympiad, were originally scheduled to be held from September 21 to October 6, 1940, in Tokyo City, Empire of Japan. They were rescheduled for Helsinki, Finland, to be held from ...

. An Olympic glider, the

DFS Olympia Meise The DFS Olympia Meise (German: "Olympic Titmouse") was a German sailplane designed by the Deutsche Forschungsanstalt für Segelflug (DFS) for Olympic competition, based on the DFS Meise. Design and development After the Olympic games in Berlin ...

, was chosen in 1939 but the Games were cancelled due to the outbreak of the Finnish/Russian winter war. The sport remained on the list of optional sports through 1956, when the IOC decided to abolish that list. None of the organizers through 1956 had elected to host gliding events. The Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, which was formed following the 1905 Olympic Congress, is presently recognized by the IOC, but none of its disciplines (which include gliding) appear to be close to Olympic inclusion.

References

External links

Video of a demonstration flight in 1936
* {{Sports at the Olympics

Olympics The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

Discontinued sports at the Summer Olympics 1936 Summer Olympics events Olympic demonstration sports Gliding in Germany Aviation history of Germany

See also

References

External links