Olympic Cavalcade

200 OLYMPIC CAVALCADE .mounted the Tribune of Honour. The next moment the flags of more than 50 nations fluttered free from the mast-heads around the arena Then the notes of the Olympic Bell pealed out and the Parade of the competing nations commenced. There were 53 of them. Headed by Greece, the traditional Olympic nation which always leads the field in the March Past at Celebrations outside Greece, the procession wound its way round the arena. But first of all came the Greek athlete, Spiridon Loues, who had won the first Marathon race at Athens· in 1896. He was in national costume and bore a branch of wild olive which he had culled from the Sacred Altis at Olympia and had brought to Berlin to present to Hitler. The accommodation of all the competitors is said to have been in the Olympic Village, but that is not entirely true, for the British oarsmen, canoeis~s and yachtsmen lived near the sites of their respective events, while the polo players stayed in Berlin, and the women's teams were housed at the Friedrich-Friesen-Haus, within walking distance of the athletic and swimming stadia. The diversity of saluting as the teams passed the Tribune was significant. The French, who gave the Olympic salute, which is not unlike that once favoured by the Nazis, were tumultuously cheered. The British, who gave the conventional 'Eyes Right', were stared at with almost complete silence. At the end of the procession came upwards of 5_00 German competitors C,lttinild all in white, who, quite naturally in the circumstances, were given the greatest welcome of all. To conclude the March Past the teams lined up behind their entablature and standard-bearers. The President of the German Olympic Committee made a speech, then Hitler declared the Berlin Games of the Xlth Olympic Celebration open. The Olympic Flag, with its five circles entwined, rose to the mast-head, the usual salvo of artillery was fired, and thousands of pigeons were released. Meanwhile, the Olympic Torch had been kindled by Vestal Virgins at Olympia on Monday, 20 July, and had since been borne by sturdy relay runners, stripped to the waist, through Athens, Delphi, Sofia, Belgrade, Budapest, Vienna, Prague and on to Berlin, a distance of 2000 miles. At each stage of the journey a fresh Olympic Torch had been kindled from the hsL ' Then a Torch Relay runner, a blond German, had reached Berlin. He handed on the flame to another runner of the Berlin-Brandenburg district in due course, and at the Lustgarten the organizing officials had arranged for connections with other important points. Then in Berlin a runner approached the altar on the steps of the Old Museum, passing through . the ranks of the Hitler Youth, and ignited the Olympic Fire. The fire was guarded that night by the Hitler Youth. . Towards 5 p.m. on the day qf the Opening Ceremony a beaut1ful.ly proportioned, flaxen-haJred runner, who had brought the flame from 1ts