Avery Brundage (1887–1975) was the fifth president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), serving from 1952 to 1972. Brundage attended the University of Illinois to study engineering and became a track star. In 1912, he competed in the Summer Olympics, contesting the pentathlon and decathlon; both events were won by Jim Thorpe. Following his retirement from athletics, Brundage became a sports administrator, rising rapidly through the ranks in United States sports groups. As leader of America's Olympic organizations, he fought zealously against a boycott of the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Nazi Germany. Although Brundage was successful in getting a team to the Games, its participation was controversial, and has remained so. Brundage was elected to the IOC that year, and quickly became a major figure in the Olympic movement. Elected IOC president in 1952, Brundage fought strongly for amateurism and against commercialization of the Olympic Games. His final Olympics as president, at Munich in 1972, was marked by controversy: at the memorial service following the murder of 11 Israeli athletes by terrorists, Brundage decried the politicization of sports, and refusing to cancel the remainder of the Olympics, declared "the Games must go on".
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avery_Brundage
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1781:
American Revolutionary War: General Benedict Arnold led British forces to victory in the Battle of Groton Heights. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Groton_Heights
1930:
Argentine President Hipólito Yrigoyen was deposed in a military coup by José Félix Uriburu. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hip%C3%B3lito_Yrigoyen
1946:
United States Secretary of State James F. Byrnes announced that with regard to postwar Germany, the U.S. would from thereon follow a policy of economic reconstruction. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restatement_of_Policy_on_Germany
1952:
A prototype aircraft crashed at the Farnborough Airshow in Hampshire, England, killing 29 spectators and the two on board. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1952_Farnborough_Airshow_DH.110_crash
1966:
South African Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd, the "architect of apartheid", was stabbed to death by Dimitri Tsafendas. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hendrik_Verwoerd
2000:
The Millennium Summit, a meeting of world leaders to discuss the role of the United Nations at the turn of the 21st century, opened in New York City. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennium_Summit
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
munificent: Very liberal in giving or bestowing; lavish; as a munificent benefactor. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/munificent
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
There is no contradiction. There never really can be between the core terms of monistic philosophies. The One in India has got to be the same as the One in Greece. If it's not, you've got two. The only disagreements among the monists concern the attributes of the One, not the One itself. Since the One is the source of all things and includes all things in it, it cannot be defined in terms of those things, since no matter what thing you use to define it, the thing will always describe something less than the One itself. The One can only be described allegorically, through the use of analogy, of figures of imagination and speech. --Robert M. Pirsig https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_M._Pirsig
daily-article-l@lists.wikimedia.org