1921 Workers' Olympiad was the first unofficial edition of the International Workers' Olympiads, organized by the 1920-established Lucerne Sport International and hosted by the Czechoslovakian Workers' Gymnastic Association in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

.Riordan, James: ″Sport, Politics, and Communism″, p. 38–39. Manchester University Press, 1991.
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/ref> The original scheduled date was August, but finally the games were held from 25 to 29 June 1921.Finnish Workers' Sports Federation Annual report 1921, p. 21–22
(in Finnish). Sports Museum Foundation of Finland. Retrieved 26 May 2015. The first official Workers' Olympiads were held in 1925 in Schreiberhau (Winter) and

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

(Summer) in Germany. The unofficial Czechoslovakian games were staged again in 1927 and 1934.

Participants

In contrast to the

1920 Summer Olympics The 1920 Summer Olympics (; ; ), officially known as the Games of the VII Olympiad (; ; ) and commonly known as Antwerp 1920 (; Dutch language, Dutch and German language, German: ''Antwerpen 1920''), were an international multi-sport event held i ...

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

, where the losing side of the

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

had been banned, athletes from the "enemy" nations were also invited. The number of participating countries was thirteen;

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

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Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

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Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

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, Soviet Russia and

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

The games

In addition to competitive sports, the games featured mass artistic displays, choral recitals, political plays and singing of revolutionary songs. According to the reports of the Finnish Workers' Sports Federation, the competitions were poorly organized, but the mass gymnastic displays were spectacular. The most successive country was Finland, whose athletes won every sport they competed in. This was a great surprise for all, even for the Finns themselves. Their intention was to meet the "top athletes of the world", but instead, the Finns found themselves on the top. Main reason for their success was the totally different culture; while the Finns focused in competing, the other European organizations were more interested of the educational aspects in labor sports. The official poster was designed by the Czech artist Václav Čutta.

International Spartakiad

Later in July 1921, the

Comintern The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern and also known as the Third International, was a political international which existed from 1919 to 1943 and advocated world communism. Emerging from the collapse of the Second Internatio ...

-supported Red Sport International staged its first international Spartakiad in Prague.Nauright, John: ″Sports around the World: History, Culture, and Practice″, p. 463. ABC-CLIO, 2012.
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References

{{International Workers' Olympiads International Workers' Olympiads 1921 in multi-sport events International sports competitions hosted by Czechoslovakia June 1921 sports events in Europe Sports competitions in Prague 1920s in Prague