With the 2020 Summer Olympics starting today, this factoid has been going around again. I'm skeptical, but am able to find a decent source on this. Some media have published articles in recent years, but that doesn't mean anything, not unless I can find something more contemporary. While Haiti and Liechtenstein don't exactly have a storied history of international relations, they aren't exactly isolates either, so if anyone has any information on this it would be nice to see.
Did Nazi regime see those as lesser opportunity to promote their views and as such promoted them less? Was it because they were relatively new thing (only 4th such games to be held)? Or because they were smaller with fewer events and participants than later summer ones?
01/08/1936 - Helsinki, Finland
As more than 5,000 athletes from 51 countries march into a stadium packed with 100,000 onlookers, the Finnish King Fredrik Kaarle I makes his only public statement of the Helsinki Olympics at its opening ceremony on August 1st, 1936.
>“I proclaim the Games of Helsinki, celebrating the eleventh Olympiad of the modern era, to be open."
Before his declaration, the king entered Olympic Stadium to the Finnish national anthem, "Maamme". As the athletes made their traditional alphabetical march into the stadium dressed in each nation’s regalia, many athletes gave their regards to the Finnish king.
Following Fredrik's remarks, Finnish composer Armas Järnefelt’ “Olympics Hymn” was performed, leading up to the ceremonial arrival of the Olympic torch. This was the first time the torch had been carried as part of a relay, starting in Olympia Greece and handled by more than 4,000 runners over its 24-day path to Helsinki.
As the songs fade, the Olympic flame flickers on, and the athletes, then the spectators, file out of the stands. The Opening Ceremony had been magnificent, and the city of Helsinki buzzed with excitement for the games to follow. The world was in conflict, but for now, all eyes were on Finland, and battles and politics were, for a brief moment, put aside by the nations in attendance.
Let the games begin!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1936_Summer_Olympics
