were sent by trade unions, workers' clubs and associations, socialist and communist parties, and left-wing groups, rather than by state-sponsored committees. With the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War just as the games were to begin, the alternate games were hastily cancelled. Some athletes never made it to Barcelona as the borders had been closed, while many who were in the city for the beginning of the games made a hasty exit. However, at least 200 of the athletes, such as Clara Thalmann, remained in Spain and joined workers' militias that were organized to defend the Second Spanish Republic against the nationalists. See also Wide is the Gate – an Upton Sinclair novel starting in Barcelona International Workers' Olympiads Spartakiad Games of the New Emerging Forces Liberty Bell Classic Friendship Games Goodwill Games 1992 Summer Olympics References Further reading Chapter Six of Berlin Games – How Hitler Stole the Olympic Dream, by Guy Walters (UK) 0060874120 (USA) External links Documents on the People's Olympiad from "Trabajadores: The Spanish Civil War through the eyes of organised labour", a digitised collection of more than 13,000 pages of documents from the archives of the British Trades Union Congress held in the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick 1936 in Spanish sport 1936 Summer Olympics Anti-fascism Cancelled sports events History of Barcelona International sports boycotts Multi-sport events in Spain Politics and sports Protests in Catalonia Second Spanish Republic Spanish Civil War Sports competitions in Barcelona