Chicago Olympics History

This fascinating program will focus on Chicago and our relationship with the Olympics, just in time for the opening ceremony on July 23rd.  Learn from well-known sports historian Dr. Steven Riess how Chicago was bounced from holding the 1904 Olympics and also about Chicago’s failure to get the 2016 Games.  Discover the story of reactionary Avery Brundage, a wealthy Chicagoan who was president of the International Olympic Committee from 1952 to 1972.  In later years he influenced the readmission of the USSR to the Olympics; the two Chinas fight; apartheid in South Africa; racism, limiting women’s participation, limiting athletic rights, and fighting to maintain amateurism and block professionalization.