Description

This item is a rare gold color medal from the 1940 Olympic Games.
Medal: 37 mm diameter, weight 12g

Obverse: Helsinki Olympic Stadium with inscription XII OLYMPIA HELSINKI 1940
Reverse: Running torchbearer with globe in background, inscription on the top XII OLYMPIA 1940 HELSINGFORS.

The Games were originally scheduled to be held in Tokyo (Japan), but several countries planned to boycott the Games and then Japan itself decided the Games would be a distraction to their military goals.

The Games were then rescheduled to be held in Helsinki (Finland), but the beginning of World War II in 1939 caused the cancellation of the Games.

The preparations for the Olympic were done almost to the end when Finland had to join the war. So for example Olympic stadium and swimming stadium were ready, the accommodation buildings for the athletes were already built, memorabilia from different licensed vendors was partly produced, but… they were only a good exercise for the Olympics to be held in Helsinki 1952.

This is a must to have for real Olympic collectors.