Page 91 - Olympism in Socialism

DHEK, studies of GDR sports students at Soviet
colleges, and joint work in competitions. The GDR
sports movement also received the support of the
Soviet Union and the other socialist countries in
the struggle for international recognition and
equality. They pulled their weight in the
international sports federations and in the
international Olympic Committee to entitle the
sportsmen of the GDR to equal participation in
international sports events.
The solidarity extended to GDR sports by the
Soviet Union and the other socialist states as well
as by many progressive people of the newly-
independent and capitalist countries makes the
sportsmen of the German Democratic Republic
today, to consistently stand up for equality in
international sports.
From the assistance of the Soviet Union in
reorganizing sports along anti-fascist and
democratic lines developed a close and friendly
cooperation between the sports organizations of
the GDR and the USSR. It is based on the
Friendship Agreement on the Strengthening and
Deepening of Fraternal Cooperation between the
Sports Organizations and Bodies of the German
Democratic Republic and the Federation of
Sports Societies and Organizations of the Union
of Soviet Socialist Republics; concluded on May
8, 1966.
Under this agreement the bilateral
cooperation is mainly centered on regular
exchange of experience between the two sports
executives, the preparation and implementation
of annual plans, the holding of joint sports
events, scientific and methodological
collaboration in a large number of sports fields,
arid the establishment of a Standing Joint
Commission to supervise the implementation of

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