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A controversial shirt depicting the 1936 Berlin Games, used by former Nazi party leader Adolf Hitler to promote white supremacy, has sold out from the official 2026 Winter Olympics store.
“While we of course acknowledge the historical issues of ‘Nazi propaganda’ related to the Berlin 1936 Olympic Games, we must also remember that the Games in Berlin saw 4,483 athletes from 49 countries compete in 149 medal events,” an International Olympic Committee (IOC) spokesperson told The Athletic in an interview published on Friday, February 13.
“Many of them stunned the world with their athletic achievements, including [American sprinter] Jesse Owens,” the spokesperson continued, confirming that the t-shirt depicting the Olympic rings and an overly-muscular man wearing a wreath on his head had sold out and was not just pulled from the proverbial shelves.
“The historical context of these Games is further explained at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne,” the spokesperson added. “For the 1936 edition, the number of T-shirts produced and sold by the IOC is limited, which is why they are currently sold out.”
The official 1936 Berlin Games shirt is emboldened with the event’s official poster featuring the rings and male figure, available for $47. As The Athletic notes, the Games were used by Hitler and the Nazis to “promote their antisemitic and racist regime.”
“While it is true that Owens winning four gold medals is one of the 1936 Games’ most important stories, it’s most obvious legacy is a warning as to what can happen if you let dictators use the major sporting events to promote hateful political ideologies, such as the Nazi myth of Aryan racial superiority,” The Athletic’s Matt Slater wrote on Friday.
The controversy surrounding the t-shirt comes amid a rise in antisemitism, fascism and violent acts of white supremacy. According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), antisemitic incidents in the U.S. rose by 361 percent following the October 7 terrorist attack in Israel. According to the February 2025 State of Antisemitism in America 2024 report, 33 percent of American Jews said they have been the personal target of antisemitism, in-person or virtually, at least once over the past year.
The 2026 Winter Olympics, held in Milan, Italy, has not been untouched by controversy as athletes from around the world compete for gold, silver and bronze. Vladyslav Heraskevych, a Ukrainian skeleton competitor, was disqualified from competition after he refused to change his helmet. (The athlete’s helmet highlighted fellow athletes who have died during Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine.)
Heraskevych appealed the decision, which was ultimately denied by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
After French ice dancers Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillame Cizeron won the gold over Americans Madison Chock and Evan Bates, fans called for an investigation into French judge Jezebel Dabouis, who favorited Beaudry, 33, and Cizeron, 31, in the free dance competition by a margin so high it made the difference between gold and silver.
Because Dabouis’ scores differed so greatly from her fellow judges, speculation quickly grew that she was not capable of being objective while scoring the competition.
“It is normal for there to be a range of scores given by different judges in any panel and a number of mechanisms are used to mitigate these variations,” the International Skating Union, figure skating’s governing body, said in a statement released on Thursday, February 12, sticking by Dabouis. “The ISU has full confidence in the scores given and remains completely committed to fairness.”
Several athletes have also come under fire for publicly admitting that it feels “complicated” to represent the United States during the country’s political turmoil.
“U.S. Olympic Skier, Hunter Hess, a real Loser, says he doesn’t represent his Country in the current WInter Olympics,” President Donald Trump wrote via social media on Sunday, February 8. “If that’s the case, he shouldn’t have tried out for the Team, and it’s too bad he’s on it. Very hard to root for someone like this, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
Hess, an American freestyle halfpipe skier, admitted during a February 6 press conference that he has “mixed emotions” representing “the U.S. right now.”
“It’s a little hard,” he continued. “There’s obviously a lot going on that I’m not the biggest fan of. … Just because I’m wearing the flag doesn’t mean I represent everything that’s going on in the U.S.”
Figure skater Amber Glenn revealed she received death threats after voicing her political beliefs while competing at the Games.
“When I chose to utilize one of the amazing things about the United States of America (freedom of Speech) to convey how I feel as an athlete competing for Team USA in a troubling time for many Americans, I am not receiving a scary amount of hate/threats for simply using my voice when asked about how I feel,” Glenn, 26, wrote via Instagram on February 7. “I did anticipate this, but I am disappointed by it.”
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