The 1952 Inter-Camp P.O.W. Olympics (), also known as Inter-Camp POW Olympic Games,Elise Horspool. was a mock

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a vari ...

held at the Pyuktong Prisoner-of-War Camp (碧潼战俘营) of the

Chinese People's Volunteer Army The People's Volunteer Army (PVA) was the armed expeditionary forces deployed by the People's Republic of China during the Korean War. Although all units in the PVA were actually transferred from the People's Liberation Army under the order ...

during the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

. The athletes were all

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...

POWs A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of w ...

. It was often used as a propaganda campaign by China and North Korea to encourage more UN soldiers to surrender. 1952 Inter-Camp P.O.W. Olympics was not authorized by the

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...

, but was organized by the Chinese People's Volunteer Army, in accordance with the '' Olympic Charter''.

The games

The POW Olympics were held between 15–27 November 1952 at Pyuktong, D.P.R.K. The Chinese hoped to gain worldwide publicity and, whilst some prisoners refused to participate, over 500 prisoners of 11 nationalities took part.Adams, (2007), p. 62. They were representative of all the prison camps in North Korea and competed in

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Sum ...

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

, soccer,

gymnastics Gymnastics is a type of sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, dedication and endurance. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, s ...

, and

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermine ...

. For the prisoners, this was an opportunity to meet with friends from other camps. They also acted as photographers, announcers and even reporters, who after each day's competition published a newsletter, the ''Olympic Roundup''.

Propaganda value

The Olympics featured frequently in North Korean

psychological warfare Psychological warfare (PSYWAR), or the basic aspects of modern psychological operations (PsyOp), have been known by many other names or terms, including Military Information Support Operations (MISO), Psy Ops, political warfare, "Hearts and M ...

(PSYWAR) pamphlets and leaflets distributed to UN soldiers. The 1952 Olympics allowed Communist forces to point to the good conditions available to those who surrendered.http://library.ndsu.edu/digital/files/2010/04/Themes-in-Korean-War.pdf

References

Bibliography

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External links

''Scotland at War,'' including some artifacts and information from Scottish POWs at the 1952 Olympics

CBC: They chose China (English documentary, with Chinese subtitle)See also via Bilibili

See also via Bilibili
{{DEFAULTSORT:1952 Pow Olympics Korean War Korean War prisoners of war POW Olympics November 1952 events in Asia Sports competitions in North Korea