One year after the frustrated celebration of the Popular Olympiad that was to be held in Barcelona in July 1936, cancelled due to the Coup d’état the day before the inauguration, the III Workers’ Olympiad was held in Antwerp, promoted by the Catalan Committee pro Sports Popular (CCEP), which had an outstanding participation of Catalan athletes.

In the sports festival there were abundant displays of solidarity and respect towards the republican struggle against fascism, the spectators and Belgian citizens showed a high respect for the Catalan and Spanish athletes, who had travelled in a local and revolutionary warlike context that made them very difficult to prepare for this sports festival.