The Austrian sports authorities today disqualified for two years Ruth Langer, 15-year-old swimmer, a member of the Hakoah Jewish sports club, for refusing to join the Austrian Olympic team, which will compete in Berlin next month.
Miss Langer’s refusal to compete was in accordance with the decision of the Maccabi Union, parent Jewish sports organization, to boycott the Olympic games.
Another Jewish swimmer, Judith Deutsch, 17, was meanwhile preparing, according to her friends, to fight in Federal Court against the action of the sports authorities in disqualifying her for two years for refusing a bid to participate in the Olympics.
“As a Jewess,” Miss Deutsch wrote to the sports authorities, “I cannot take part in the Olympic games in Berlin because my conscience forbids me to do this. I declare that this is my free and unalterable decision. I ask that my point of view should be understood and that I should not be subjected to any compulsion.”
Some observers said both cases of disqualification were illegal because there was no law providing for disciplining athletes for refusal to take part in any particular event.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
