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In a debate which seems set to occupy much of this pre-Olympic year, the sporting world remains divided over whether to welcome back athletes from Russia despite the ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
It is perhaps the biggest potential schism in sport since the alternative Games of New Emerging Forces (GANEFO) were launched 60 years ago by Indonesian President Sukarto.
Jakarta had been chosen to stage the 1962 Asian Games but the Indonesian Government refused to allow competitors and officials from Israel and Taiwan (now known as Chinese Taipei) to enter the country.
The decision came very late, and Games organisers had originally included both nations in accommodation lists for the competitors village.
International Olympic Committee (IOC) member Guru Dutt Sondhi, a senior figure in the Asian Games Federation, raised objections to the actions of the host nation.
Sondhi was Indian and words prompted a furious reaction in Jakarta as the Indonesian Government imposed economic sanctions against his country.
Protesters took to the streets and vented their anger outside the Indian Embassy and in front of his hotel.
Sondhi was forced to leave the country for his own safety.
As a result, World Athletics, then known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF) and led by the Marquess of Exeter refused to recognise the Asian Games.
The International Swimming Federation and the International Weightlifting Federation followed suit and withdrew their official recognition from the events held at the Asian Games.
IOC President Avery Brundage accused Indonesia of playing politics.
The Indonesian National Olympic Committee were suspended from the Olympic Movement.
“The suspension of this committee had been decided as a result of a grave scandal,” Brundage declared.
“The facts were of such a nature that there was no alternative.”
The IOC left the way open for Indonesia to return but the decision angered Sukarno who retorted by announcing that Indonesia had withdrawn from the Olympic Movement.
He accused the IOC of hypocrisy because they did not allow mainland China, Vietnam and East Germany. all socialist nations, to take part in the Games.
In April 1963, Sukarno hosted a conference in Jakarta.
This was attended by delegates from the Soviet Union and Communist China, Cambodia, Guinea, Iraq, Mali, Pakistan, North Vietnam and the United Arab Republic.
Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and Yugoslavia were present as observers.
“The Olympic Games is a tool of imperialists and colonialists,” Sukarno told a receptive audience.
He proposed a movement against the “old established force,” and for a separate sporting event to celebrate the new world.
They were to have the motto “Onward, No Retreat.”
“Indonesia proposes now to mix sports with politics, and let us now establish the Games of the New Emerging Forces, the GANEFO… against the Old Established Order,” he continued.
The Games were established after “frank and cordial discussions,” an official communique said,
They were aimed at “encouraging the promotion and development of sports and physical culture and of sports movements in emerging countries, and stimulating sporting competitions among the youth of the new emerging forces in order to foster and consolidate friendly relations,” it added.
GANEFO was also to “promote friendship and world peace in general.”
Meanwhile, Indonesian forces engaged in border skirmishes along the Malaysian border.
Egyptian IOC member Ahmed Touny was installed as a GANEFO official prompting IOC Chancellor Otto Mayer to describe him as a “spy.”
Meanwhile in an article for Olympic Review, GANEFO was described as “a dangerous deviation,” by Lausanne journalist Frederic Schattler.
“It is now part of the plan of the non-Olympic countries to amuse themselves in making their own experiments – these plans will not go very far,” he predicted.
As the Games drew ever closer, Indonesian Sports Minister Raden Maladi issued frequent bulletins which predicted a large attendance.
These eventually included the Soviet Union who had been wary that those who took part in GANEFO might face an Olympic ban.
The Games were scheduled for November 1963 and Indonesian students were given a two week holiday to act as volunteers.
In the days beforehand, a heavy military presence was reported around city utilities and also at the main stadium.
The authorities said this was because they feared action to sabotage the Games from “old established forces and reactionary agents.”
A Flame had been lit in Java and Torchbearers took it through Surabaya, Yogyakarta and Bandung, accompanied by a mounted escort carrying the Indonesian flags.
The Opening Ceremony was held in the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium which had hosted the 1962 Asian Games.
A GANEFO flag was raised in the stadium.
1963. Sukarno mengadakan perhelatan Ganefo (Games of the New Emerging Forces) di Jakarta untuk menandingi Olimpiade. Sebanyak 51 negara ikut berpartisipasi, umumnya negara-negara yang baru merdeka serta blok Timur. pic.twitter.com/puFpWqjwCk
This featured a globe on which were set 12 flags, to represent those who had been invited to the original conference held by Sukarno in April.
The teams included groups from the Netherlands, Italy and Belgium.
The Dutch previously had a heavy colonial presence in the area but the team sent was viewed as representative of “new forces” in the country.
Cultural and social events were considered to be an important part of the GANEFO.
Mexico sent a Mariachi band and dancers whilst other nations also sent performers.
President Sukarno himself hosted a reception for 1,000 guests at the Merdeka (independence) Palace.
Marshall He Long was sent as Chairman Mao’s representative and greeted as an honoured guest by Sukarno.
The Indonesian Communist party secretary Dipa Nusantara Aidit met competitors from China and Indonesia during the Games,
“The International village where the teams live has witnessed numerous friendly get-togethers by men and women from many parts of the world,” reported the Peking News.
“At these gatherings, they swapped experiences on the field and learned from each others common progress, this has helped promote understanding and friendship among people of all lands.”
There was soon success for the Chinese contingent to celebrate.
Ni Chi Chi cleared 2.01 metres to claim gold in the men’s high jump, Tien Chao Chung won the triple jump with a leap of 16.04m and Li Yun Piao took gold in the hammer.
Chao Yung won the women’s discus with a throw of 47.17m and China also won the women’s 4×100 metres relay.
Chinese athletes returned home from Jakarta with 65 gold medals, over twice as many as any other nation.
There was a congratulatory telegram to Sukarno from Vietnam’s President Hồ Chí Minh.
Many were curious to see North Korean athletics star Shin Keum-Dan, also known as Sin Kim-Dan after reports of the remarkable times she had achieved at meetings in Moscow and Pyongyang.
In the women’s 800 metres final, Shin posted 1min 59.1sec, almost two seconds inside the existing world record.
The following day, she recorded 51.4sec for the 400 metres, again a significant improvement on the best times in the official listings.
North Korea’s football side was growing in strength and drew with the United Arab Republic in the final before losing the gold medal on the toss of a coin.
Amongst their stars was Pak Doo Ik, who achieved even greater fame at the 1966 FIFA World Cup when he scored the only goal as North Korea defeated Italy in one of the major shocks of any World Cup.
As the Games came to an end organisers distributed another news bulletin.
“The sports festival of GANEFO 1 is an occasion to confront imperialism and colonialism and these facts will prove the downfall of these forces,” the bulletin claimed.
“The sports festival of GANEFO has become a success for Indonesia in particular and the countries of the new emerging forces in general in the history of opposing homme par l’homme (sic) in all aspects including sports,” the bulletin continued.
The American magazine Sports Illustrated was less complimentary.
“It may turn out that the Games have been the most disorganised sports event of which history has any record, thus achieving an unexpected grandeur of a sort,” correspondent Peter Ross wrote,
Soon it became clear that those who had taken part had put their participation at the Tokyo Olympics in jeopardy.
“You may rest assured that the International Amateur Athletics Federation will be very tough on this,” Exeter wrote to Brundage.
A few months before the Tokyo Olympics, the IOC agreed to remove the suspension on the Indonesians, although athletes who had participated in GANEFO remained banned.
Maladi was sent to Tokyo to lobby for their reinstatement.
North Korea also arrived in Tokyo with their squad which included Sin and five others who had taken part in the 1963 Games.
Despite an appeal from the Soviets supporting Indonesia, the discussions proved fruitless, and the Indonesians and North Koreans recalled their entire teams from the Olympics.
A cartoon appeared in the Indonesian press depicting Brundage telling nervous athletics and swimming officials, to “stop cowering” as Indonesian and North Korean officials departed hand in hand.
“The Olympics are a children’s game, GANEFO is much better” read the caption.
The United Arab Republic had also participated in GANEFO, but made a point of not including athletes who had taken part “to avoid embarrassing their hosts.”
The GANEFO Games were intended to take place every four years but Sukarno was replaced as Indonesian President by General Suharto.
Although a second GANEFO event was held in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh, Cambodia at the end of 1966, they proved to be the last as the movement quietly faded away.
Philip Barker, a freelance journalist, has been on the editorial team of the Journal of Olympic History and is credited with having transformed the publication into one of the most respected historical publications on the history of the Olympic Games. He is also an expert on Olympic Music, a field which is not generally well known.
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The Hong Kong Sports Institute Limited (“HKSIL”) is the Government’s delivery agent to provide the high-performance training system for eligible sports. The HKSI’s mission is to provide an environment in which sports talent can be identified, nurtured and developed to pursue excellence in the international sporting arena benchmarked at Major Games results. We are now inviting suitable candidates for the following vacancy.
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