Half the globe away from the world's shooting wars, the vanguard of an international brigade of athletes invaded Australia. They had come, so they were told, to promote peace. But the repercussions of far-off gunfire were felt in Melbourne's Olympic villageĀand might just possibly wreck the 1956 games.
Egypt and Iraq had withdrawn, would not be present to compete with their enemies. The Communist Chinese had pulled out in a fit of pique over an invitation to the Nationalists. Solemnly Avery Brundage, the International Olympic Committee's president, insisted that "in an imperfect world,...
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