The 1936 Summer Olympics were held in Nazi Germany in part because the US refused to enter a team into the opening ceremony in protest of the Nazi regime.

The 1936 Summer Olympics were awarded to Berlin Germany in 1931. In response to the rise of the Nazi regime in Germany, the US initially planned to withhold its team from the opening ceremony in protest. In 1934, the IOC threatened to strip Germany of the games if the US went through with the protest. In order to avoid embarrassment, the US agreed to send its team in for the opening ceremony.<br><br>The 1936 Summer Olympics are often portrayed as the "Nazi games", which is inaccurate. The Olympics were not cancelled or postponed. While the IOC did give in to the Nazi regime, they did not openly support Nazism. The Olympics went ahead as scheduled, and the IOC's biggest concern was with attendance. Hitler's government spent millions of dollars to prepare the city for the games. Germany expected a large turnout of spectators from around the world.<br><br>The 1936 Summer Olympics did attract a large number of spectators, but not from around the world. Only 49% of the spectators were from outside of Europe. 55% of the spectators were from Germany. Only 2.5% of the spectators came from the UK. 1% of the spectators came from the US. <br><br>Despite expectations of a global event, the Olympics had low attendance from outside of Europe. The Olympics did, however, give the Nazi regime an opportunity to show off their capabilities to the Europeans. The Olympics were an international event, but it only drew a large number of spectators from within Europe. <br><br>The 1936 Summer Olympics were not the first international event to be held in Nazi Germany. The 1934 IOC Congress was held in Vienna and Berlin. In 1935, the 1st official match of the 1936 FIFA World Cup was held in Berlin. The 1936 Winter Olympics were held in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. <br><br>The 1936 Summer Olympics were the culmination of a series of international events hosted by Nazi Germany between 1934 and 1938. It was not an isolated event.