Chariots of Ire

Chariots of Ire

Barcelona's Olympic dream was an ongoing saga of frustration for nearly the entire 20th century. After years of economic and political intrigue, the 1936 People's Games were scheduled to begin at the Olympic Stadium on Montjuïc as a protest against the German Olympics organized in Berlin by Adolf Hitler's National Socialist Party. On July 18th, the day of the opening ceremony, General Francisco Franco and the Spanish army revolted against the democratically elected Spanish government and Spain spiraled into a civil war that lasted until 1939. From 1939 until Franco's death in 1975, Spain struggled and Barcelona, staunchly Republican, languished in "internal exile," domestic persona non grata status. But Juan Antonio Samaranch, a Catalan, was quietly working as the Franco regime's International Olympic Committee representative and in 1990, as President of the IOC, succeeded in winning Barcelona's nomination as the seat of the 1992 Olympic Games. Funded largely by Madrid, Barcelona not only completely renovated its urban infrastructure but also used its Olympic "bully pulpit" to broadcast what was, to much of the world, news: Catalonia and its language and culture were still here, alive and well, and spoiling to compete with Madrid once again.