The small country was ill-prepared to con- duct an event of such magnitude on a tight schedule

[chichi]

The selection of Antwerp to be the host city for the 1920 Olympic Games came almost by default. Berlin had been selected as the site for the 1916 Games, which never buy fifa 15 coins took place because of World War I. The war ended in 1918 and Baron Pierre de Coubertin began the quest for a host city able to put on the show on short notice. The original candidates were Amsterdam, Antwerp, Budapest and Lyon. Surprisingly, Havana made a cable bid; however, nothing more was heard afterwards. Amsterdam withdrew its candidacy, it is said, out of respect to the Belgians, who through no fault of their own had suffered much during the war. Budapest was out of the running because Hungary had fought on Germany’s side during the war and the International Olympic Committee had the Central Powers banned from com- peting in the games.

Therefore, it came down to Belgium, a country that had been an innocent victim of Ger- many’s invasion in the war, to host the games. The small country was ill-prepared to con- duct an event of such magnitude on a tight schedule, with only a little over one year to finish all preparations. The games went on, but barely. There were numerous complaints as to the venues, the facilities and the living accommodations. However, the 1920 Olympic Games contributed towards recovery after World War I and many innovations that are still in prac- tice at this writing saw their debut at the games. For example, in the opening ceremony the Olympic flag , five intertwined rings — black, blue, green, red and yellow — on a white back- ground, was first flown. One athlete took the Olympic oath on behalf of his fellow competi- tors, and a large number of pigeons — the doves of peace — were released at the end of the ceremony. More important, live pigeon shooting was not included as part of the games; it was replaced by clay pigeon shooting.

The polo tournament was played on a field within the Wellington Hippodrome at Ostende, on the English Channel coast. Polo had been a feature of Ostende’s social calendar for many years. There was a polo club, Antwerpen, in Brasschaat ; however, to avoid some of the congestion near Antwerp, the venue was moved eastwards to the resort town where polo had been played since 1904.

The host team was Maurice Lysen, Clément van der Straaten, Alfred Grisar and Baron Gastón Peers de Niewburgh. Gastón Peers had lived and played in Argentina, where he had married a high-society lady ; Baron Peers was a winner of the Polo Association of the River Plate Open Championship in 1900. Alfred Grisar remains the foremost Belgian player. A gifted athlete, Grisar played for Belgium in polo and football, and in national competitions in cycling and tennis. A left-handed player, he reached a 6-goal handicap and among his many trophies took the Coronation Cup in 1924.