United Team of Germany
| Germany at the Olympic Games | ||||
 Flag of Germany superimposed with white Olympic rings |
||||
| IOC code: EUA | ||||
| Summer Olympic Games appearances | ||||
| 1956 • 1960 • 1964 | ||||
| Winter Olympic Games appearances | ||||
| 1956 • 1960 • 1964 | ||||
| Other related appearances | ||||
| • Germany (all appearances) • East Germany (1968-1988) • Saar (1952) |
The United Team of Germany (French: Équipe unifiée d'Allemagne, German: Gesamtdeutsche Mannschaft) competed in the 1956, 1960, and 1964 Winter and Summer Olympic Games as a united team of athletes from the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG, West Germany) and the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany). In 1956 the team also included athletes from a third Olympic body, the Saarland Olympic Committee, which had sent a separate team in 1952, but which in 1956 was in the process of joining the German National Olympic Committee, a process which was completed in February 1957 after the admission of Saarland into the FRG.
Beethoven's melody to Schiller's Ode an die Freude (Ode to Joy) was played for winning German athletes as a compromise in lieu of a national anthem. As the GDR introduced an altered black-red-gold tricolour flag of Germany in 1959 as flag of East Germany, a compromise flag was agreed upon for 1960, superimposed with additional white Olympic rings.
At the Games of 1956, 1960 and 1964 the team was simply known as "Germany" and the usual country code of GER was used, except
at Germany at the
In the 1968 Winter Olympics, German athletes started as separate West and East teams (now listed under the IOC codes FRG and GDR, respectively), while still using the compromise Olympic flag and Beethoven anthem in that year. The separation was completed in 1972 with the use of separate flags and anthems. It continued until the German Democratic Republic ceased to exist after 1989, with their states joining the Federal Republic of Germany in the process of German reunification in 1990.
See also
References
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
