40

In October of the folle:ing year, 1954, Herr Karl Dien wrote: “with further
referenes te cur former correspondence, I heave the Pleasure of informing you
that the Berlin Organising Committee at its meeting on October 19th, adopted the
resolution that basketball be included in the program of the 1956 Olympte Games
at Serlin.g” ,

Thus briefly dia the six-year struggle for the inelusion of basketball in
Olympics celenders cone to a happy ending. the Germans chose clider flying es
| their national denonstration sport for thei Olympiad. Field handball, a game
siniler te basketball and played with a basketball tut with different (sesoer)
goals, was chosen as the other (international) demonstration sport. Thus besket=
ball was placed on the reguler Olympic calendar. This achievonent cane to
basketball sooner than we hed dared to dream.

Some weeks later Herr Dien advised us an interview with lire Tonalto Jones,
- the secretary general of the International Basketbell Federation fras Pons,
Italy, in which lire Jones spoke of the enthusiastic reception of this besket~
bell nows from various other parts of the world. At the time of this interview
between Horr Diem of Berlin and lirs Jones of Rone, in Deconbor, 1954, Mr. Jones
enumerated the 22 nations that would send competing basketball teams to the
Berlin Olympies. Out of these entries, Msted two years before actual compotit=
fon, @21 tut one sent toamse Spain alone, owing to ite serious interne. strife,
was foreed te eance!l plans for cowpetition. ,

Argentina, dustrie, Belgium, Brasil, Bulgeria, Chine, Cubs, Czechoslovakia,

_ ‘Estonia, France, Greeee, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Latvie, the Philippines, Poland,
Portugal, Pumania, fwitserlend, and the United States, #11 sent basketball teams
to the initial contests in the XI Clympied at Berlin in 1986. The United |
Stetes team won the championship; the Canadian team was second; and Mexico won
third plese. ;

However, the exhibitions, both in the loos national preliminary elimination