In1904, in the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, the Olympic Games couldn't escape the rise in the racist ideologies of the 20th century and they contributed to the discussing of the athletic merit of the different races. Their organizers set up special competitions, called for the occasion « Anthropology Days », reserved for those who were considered as primitives by the segregationist America of that time. The impact of the race studies on the ways of thinking sport, contrary to what the different chairmen of the IOC tried hard to make believe during the new decades, was not only an unfortunate moment in the history of the Olympic movement. We shall make some forecasts regarding the influence of that interracial athletic show in the United States but also in the world, in particular through the role of the press. The anthropology days surely allowed a certain perception of otherness and limited the integration of native peoples in the world sports fabric.
Anthropology; Anthropological Days; Olympic Games; sport