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the 1936 Summer Olympics planned for Berlin during the period of Nazi rule. The newly elected, left wing, Popular Front government in Spain decided to boycott the Berlin Olympics and host their own games after their election in February 1936. Invitations were made to the nations of the world and it was planned to use the hotels build for the 1929 World's Fair as an Olympic Village. The games were scheduled to be held from July 19 to July 26 and would have therefore ended six days prior to the start of the Berlin games. In addition to the usual sporting events, the Barcelona games would have also featured chess, folkdancing, music and theatre.
6,000 athletes from 22 nations registered for the games with the United States, Britain, the Netherlands, Belgium, CzechoslovakiaCzechoslovakia ( Czech: Ceskoslovensko Slovak: Cesko-Slovensko before 1990 Ceskoslovensko ) was a country in Central Europe that existed from 1918 until 1992 (except for the World War II period). On January 1, 1993, it peacefully split into the Czech Repu, DenmarkKongeriget Danmark ( In Detail) Motto of the Queen: Guds hjaelp, Folkets kaerlighed, Danmarks styrke (English: God's help, the love of the people, Denmark's strength) Official language Danish Capital Copenhagen Kobenhavn Monarch Margrethe II Prime Ministe, NorwayThe Kingdom of Norway is a Nordic country west of Sweden on the Scandinavian Peninsula. It has a very elongated form and has an extensive coastline along the North Atlantic Ocean, where Norway's famous fjords are found. In addition to Sweden, it borders R, SwedenThe Kingdom of Sweden Konungariket Sverige in Swedish) is a Nordic country in Scandinavia, in Northern Europe. It is bordered by Norway on the west, Finland on the northeast, the Skagerrak and the Kattegat on the southwest, and the Baltic Sea and the Gulf and AlgeriaAlgeria is a country in northern Africa with a coast on the Mediterranean Sea along the north and bordered by Tunisia in the northeast, Libya in the east, Niger in the southeast, Mali and Mauritania in the southwest, and Morocco in the west (the Moroccan planning the largest contingents. There were also GermanThe Federal Republic of Germany ( German: Bundesrepublik Deutschland is one of the world's leading industrialized countries, located in the middle of the European Union. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark and the Baltic Sea, to the east and ItalianThe Italian Republic or Italy ( Italian: Italia is a country in the south of Europe, consisting mainly of a boot-shaped peninsula together with two large islands in the Mediterranean Sea: Sicily and Sardinia. To the north, where it borders France, Switzer teams made up of exiles from those countries.
Many of the athletes were sent by trade unions, workers' clubs and associations, socialist and communist parties and left wing groups rather than by state-sponsored committees.
However, with the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War just as the games were to begin the alternate games were hastily cancelled. Some athletes never made it to Barcelona as the borders had been closed while those who were in the city for the beginning of the games had to make a hasty exit. However, at least 200 of the athletes remained in Spain and joined worker's militias that were organized to defend the Spanish Republic.