The Olympic Games is a major international multi-sport event. During its history, both the Summer and Winter Games have been a subject of scandals and controversies, including the use of performance enhancing drugs.
Some countries have boycotted the Games on various occasions, either as a protest against the International Olympic Committee or to protest racial discrimination in or the contemporary politics of other participants. After both World Wars, the defeated countries were not invited. Other controversies include doping programs, decisions by referees and gestures made by athletes.
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Governor George H. Earle of Pennsylvania and Mayor La Guardia joined last night with Alfred J. Lill, member of the American Olympic Committee; Eric Seelig, former amateur light-heavyweight boxing champion of Germany, and others, in urging American withdrawal from the Olympic Games in Berlin next year.
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Of the first 139 nations in the parade, the biggest cheers went to Rumania, the only Warsaw Pact nation competing here.
The Romanians, the only Eastern bloc nation to defy the Soviet boycott, were greeted with a standing ovation.
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