Fearing an Olympic boycott, the International Olympic Committee extracted promises from the German authorities that there would be no restrictions on the participation of Jewish athletes. To showcase a German-Jewish athlete, the Nazis ordered Gretel Bergmann, who had moved to London, to return home to train, threatening her family in Germany would suffer if she did not comply.

Bergmann was born in the small town of Laupheim, Germany. A gifted athlete, Bergmann competed in local track and field competitions from the age of ten. Bergmann excelled in the high jump, and was sent to a special sports school in southern Germany in 1931. However, when the Nazis took power, Bergmann was expelled from her sports club and school. She left Germany for the United Kingdom.

Forced to return to Germany, Bergmann tied the German women’s national high jump record in 1936. As soon as German Olympic officials were confident that the Americans would participate in the Olympics, they sent Bergmann a letter stating that her “poor performance” meant that she could not be a member of the German Olympic team.

The Nazis offered Bergmann a standing-room ticket to view the track and field events. Both devastated and defiant, Bergmann refused the ticket and left Germany in 1937.