Page 87 - Olympism in Socialism

years. Five basic events — running or hiking pull-
ups or push-ups, triple jump, air-gun shooting
arid slalom race — quality one according to
certain normatives for bronze; in case of silver
and gold other items are added.
Every year the number of badges acquired
goes into millions. Many people proudly wear it
on their lapels. A large number of these meet
every December in a Berlin swimming hail for the
Swimming Festival of Age Groups. They come
from all parts of the GDR. Such is 78-year-old
Suse Geissler from Leipzig. She was the winner of
her age-group in the 50 metres free-style with
48.0 s, was successful in 50 metres breast-stroke
with 1:00.8 mm. and swam 50 metres back-
stroke in 1:06.8 mm. Once again note her age: 78
years. “I have gone in for sports all my life”, she
told us. “In former times, within the workers’
sport movement, this brought many hardships,
but today on the workers’ and farmers’ state
things are made easy for me. I would not want to
miss sports in my life.”
The bases for mass sports can be naturally
found in the factories and enterprises with their
numerous sports grounds and facilities. Here,
where there is a concentration of the working
people, various facilities for active recreation are
available. The sports clubs of the enterprises are
responsible for this. In close cooperation with the
trade unions they provide opportunities for sports
activities and organise them.
In the house construction works of Berlin this
is done in the following way. More than 1,300
people are members of the building workers’
sports club. In its 16 sections, however, also a
large number of people pursue sports who are not
organised members of the club. Last year, 112
work teams with nearly 6,500 staff members took

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