Le Nord : revue internationale des Pays de Nord - 01.06.1940, Page 164
LE NORD
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tourist travel, film and broadcasting, and in the so-called Tech-
nical Section.
It may truly be said that during July and August 1939 Hel-
sinki was living in a state of Olympic high pressure. In those
months several well-known international leaders of athletic life
from various countries visited Helsinki. Foreign teams — in-
cluding the Italian football team which won the Gold Medal
in 1936 — competed in the Helsinki Stadium in order to be-
come acquainted with it a year in advance, and picturesque groups
of foreign Pressmen and Presswomen were constantly in evidence
wherever preparations for the Games were proceeding.
On August 26th—2 8th 1939 a general rehearsal was held
by the judges and Games officials in connection with the Fin-
nish track and field championships in the Helsinki Stadium, in
the presence of Director Sigfrid Edström, Chairman of the Inter-
national Amateur Athletic Federation, and its Honorary Secre-
tary Bo Ekelund. On the same occasion the Olympic Press Service
gave a first public test of its capacity to the World Press, whose
representatives and special correspondents were present in very
large numbers to watch the championships and in particular the
functioning of the organization. The general opinion was that
the test had succeeded admirably.
At the end of August 47 countries had reported their par-
ticipation in the 1940 Olympic Games. Tickets had been sold
to the number of 416,171 of which 89,646 abroad. Requests
for accommodation had arrived in large numbers, some from as
far away as the Philippines, Uruguay and French Morocco. The
new competition sites were nearing completion, the Helsinki po-
lice were discussing traffic problems and energetically studying
foreign languages. The coaching of Finnish athletes was in full
swing. The final and most feverish stage of preparations was
beginning. Then the European War broke out.
Already in September the situation had altered to such an
extent that the Organization Committee was faced with the ne-
cessity of deciding whether preparations for the Olympic Games
were to be continued or not. After first conferring with re-
presentatives of the Finnish Government, it decided on September
i2th to go on with the preparations, but on a reduced scale. It
was decided to complete all building operations on competition
sites and to carry all other arrangements to a stage that would
still enable the Games to be held if the world situation grew