Introduction

Abstract

This chapter begins by discussing the bleakest day in the histories of the Olympic movement. It then notes that in the Federal Republic of the 1960s, the ducal focus on the past and the future-oriented present was writ large in debates about policy and national self-understanding. Next, the chapter discusses that the sense of modern organization—a reaching for the future while addressing the issues of the day head-on—set the climate in which a West German bud for the Olympics could be conceived and, indeed, flourish. It then details that during the planning for 1972, technocratic optimism, economic growth, and the “end of ideology” each played a vital role. This chapter also discusses the roles played by two individuals who made the West Germany Olympics possible—Willi Daume and Hans-Jochen Vogel. Lastly, the chapter examines the relationship between politics and the International Olympic Committee (IOC).