Editing 1940 Summer Olympics (section)

==Helsinki and other competitions==
[[File:Equipment made in Yleisradio's workshop at the end of the 1930's intended for broadcasting the 1940 Olympics, ca. 1940. (15301312367).jpg|thumb|right|Equipment manufactured by [[Yle]], the Finnish broadcasting company, and [[AEG (German company)|AEG]] for the purpose of broadcasting coverage of the 1940 Games]]
The IOC then awarded the Games to [[Helsinki]], Finland, the city that had been the runner-up in the original bidding process. The Games were then scheduled to be staged from 20 July to 4 August 1940. In December 1939, however, it was announced by IOC President [[Henri de Baillet-Latour|Count Henri Baillet-Latour]] that the games were cancelled, as revealed in [[Brussels]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=December 3, 1939 |title=Olympic Games Listed for 1940 Canceled, Count Baillet-Latour Reveals in Brussels; OLYMPICS OF 1940 WILL NOT BE HELD |work=The New York Times |pages=95}}</ref> The Olympics were suspended indefinitely following the outbreak of World War II (the [[Winter War]] in particular) and did not resume until the [[1948 Summer Olympics|London Games of 1948]].

With the Olympics canceled, the major international athletics event of the year turned out to be the annual [[Finland-Sweden Athletics International]], held at the new [[Helsinki Olympic Stadium]], exceptionally held as a triple international among [[Finland]], [[Sweden]] and [[Nazi Germany|Germany]].

[[Gliding]] was due to be an Olympic sport in the 1940 Games after a [[demonstration sport|demonstration]] at the [[Gliding at the 1936 Summer Olympics|Berlin]] Games in 1936.<ref>
{{cite book |last= Welch |first= Ann |title= The Story of Gliding 2nd edition |publisher= [[John Murray (publishing house)|John Murray]] |year= 1980 |isbn = 0-7195-3659-6 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.deutsches-museum.de/en/flugwerft/collections/sailplanes/olympia-meise/ |title = Glider design to be used at the 1940 Olympic Games | access-date = 25 March 2008 }}</ref> The sport has not been featured in any Games since, though the glider designed for it, the [[DFS Olympia Meise]], was produced in large numbers after the war.

Meanwhile, Japan hosted the [[1940 East Asian Games]] in Tokyo, with six participating nations. Helsinki eventually held the [[1952 Summer Olympics]], while Tokyo held the [[1964 Summer Olympics]] and the [[2020 Summer Olympics]], although the later event was postponed to 2021 due to the [[COVID-19 pandemic]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Ingle |first1=Justin McCurry Sean |title=Tokyo Olympics postponed to 2021 due to coronavirus pandemic |url=https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2020/mar/24/tokyo-olympics-to-be-postponed-to-2021-due-to-coronavirus-pandemic |work=The Guardian |date=24 March 2020}}</ref>

During August 1940, prisoners of war celebrated a "special Olympics" called the ''International Prisoner-of-War Olympic Games'' at [[Stalag]] XIII-A in [[Langwasser]], near [[Nuremberg]], Germany. An Olympic flag, 29 by 46&nbsp;cm in size, was made of a Polish prisoner's shirt and, drawn in crayon, it featured the Olympic rings and banners for Belgium, France, Great Britain, Norway, Poland, and the Netherlands. A feature film, ''[[Olympics 40|Olimpiada '40]]'', produced by the director [[Andrzej Kotkowski]] in 1980 tells the story of these games and of one of the prisoners of war, Teodor Niewiadomski.<ref>{{cite journal|last= Grys |first= Iwona |title= The Olympic Idea Transcending War |journal= Olympic Review |volume= 25 |issue= 8 |date= April–May 1996 |pages= 68–69 |url=http://www.la84foundation.org/OlympicInformationCenter/OlympicReview/1996/oreXXV8/oreXXV8zza.pdf |access-date= 31 July 2008 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080910020833/http://www.la84foundation.org/OlympicInformationCenter/OlympicReview/1996/oreXXV8/oreXXV8zza.pdf| archive-date= 10 September 2008 | url-status=live}}</ref>