Yet, despite a tense political atmosphere, much of the world came together in Helsinki 70 years ago to celebrate the Olympics.

For the first time in 40 years, there was a team from greater Russia, the first since the days of the Tsar before the first world war when Russia still laid claim to Finland.

Japan and Germany were both welcomed back into the Olympic fold, they had been excluded from the first post war Games in 1948 as the defeated powers in the war.

By this time, Germany had also been divided into East and West and agreement had not yet been reached to allow those from East Germany to take part.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) were keen to have only one team representing Germany and in Helsinki, this included only athletes from the West.

Yet in 1952, there was also a team from a part of Germany which had been annexed by the victorious powers after the second world war.

The Saarland stood on the border with France and had often endured political upheaval.

Coalfields had made it economically desirable for both France and Germany in the late 19th century.

As part of reparations after the first world war in 1919, Saar became a League of Nations mandate controlled by France and Britain, before returning to German administration after a vote in 1935.

After the second world war, the region was again administered by the French as part of the post-war settlement.

Although athletes from Germany were banned from the 1948 Olympics, there were moves to allow those who lived in the Saar area to take part.

"Sport seemed an especially suitable vehicle to foster identity so it was little wonder that the Saarlanders made a big effort to become part of the Olympic movement as soon as possible," wrote Professor Hans Giessen, in the Journal of Olympic History.

"The French ambassador in Sweden Gabriel Puaux proposed that the independent country of Saar be recognised as an Olympic country," reported IOC President Sigfrid Edstrom, in a letter to IOC colleagues in 1948.

"Saar is recognised by the great powers and under ordinary circumstances, this would make the country eligible to be recognised as Olympic."

It did not prove possible in 1948, but two years later, the question was raised again before the IOC Executive Commission in Copenhagen.

At the full session a few days later, IOC members were read a letter from General Brian Robertson asking that Germany should be invited to take part at Helsinki.

Then in the last debating point of the morning, the IOC considered the question of the Saar.

Wolfgang Harres, the author of an extensive history of Saarland sport, suggested that the timing was significant to allow the decision to be hurried through with minimum fuss.

The minutes of the session recorded that there was agreement that the Saar Olympic Committee be recognised.

"Provided that they fulfil the technical conditions, which at the minimum would be the affiliation of its national governing bodies to international federations and in particular to that for athletics," it said.

The French member Armand Massard pointed out that the Saarlanders were "waiting for a decision before they could affiliate to the the corresponding International Federations."

In November, delegates from the Saar joined 10 other nations to take part in a World Athletics meeting.

This took place at Mon Repos, the chateau which was also headquarters of the IOC in Lausanne.

Meanwhile, the Comite Olympique de Sarre (SNOC) was established in buildings at 44/46 Bahnhofstraße in Saarbrücken, and its name was soon listed in IOC directories.

Erwin Muller, a one time Minister President of the Saar region and a prominent official, was installed as President of SNOC.

The travel arrangements for the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki were not quite as straightforward as it might have been.

There was some friction between the Federal Republic and the Saar and the team were not permitted to travel through Germany to reach Finland. 

Instead they were taken by coach to Paris before special flights were arranged.

It is also said that the uniforms worn by the Saar team were modified after it had been learned that the German team would wear something similar.

The Saar made its mark on the Games before the sport even started.

The Olympic Flame was to travel by air from Greece to Scandinavia from where it would travel through Denmark and Sweden before travelling through Finland to Helsinki.

"The Saar Olympic Committee made a gift of a beautiful miner's safety-lamp in which the Flame could be carried in an airplane," the official report noted.

It is believed that the idea had come from Ludwig Seitz, chief sports official at the mine in Sulzbach.

The men stayed in the Olympic Village but the women were housed in separate accommodation, described in the official report as a "nurses training college".

The red and blue Saar flag was carried at the Opening Ceremony by long jumper Toni Breder.

The team wore jackets emblazoned with the Saar emblem, a shield in red, white and blue.

They also paraded behind a banner which used the German spelling Saar, not the French Sarre, which was felt to be another political point.

The predominantly male team had representatives in athletics, boxing, fencing, gymnastics, canoeing, rowing, shooting, swimming and wrestling.

Wrestler Erich Schmidt finished eighth in the lightweight Greco-Roman wrestling.

The best showing among the five women competitors came from canoeist Therese Zenz, who finished 9th in the 500 metres kayak.

She later demonstrated that she was truly world class with gold at the World Championships held in the French town of Macon in 1954, the only gold medal won by a competitor in Saarland colours.

Saar had entered for the Olympic football tournament in 1952 and were originally drawn to play against Austria in the preliminary round, but they scratched before the competition began.

The team was to have been coached by Helmut Schoen, later to lead West Germany to World Cup glory in 1974.

As elsewhere in France and Germany, football was very popular in the Saar region.

The local team had been granted dispensation to play in West German competitions and to the delight of local football fans, Saarbrücken won the 1952 South-West Oberliga title and came close to winning the overall national championship in the pre-Bundesliga era.

The Saar national team also entered the FIFA World Cup qualifying competition for 1954 and Schoen again coached the team.

They beat Norway in their opening match of a round robin qualification group, but subsequently lost to the eventual world champions West Germany and did not qualify for the final tournament in Switzerland.

By 1955, the political scene had changed and there was a referendum.

Saar inhabitants voted overwhelmingly to become part of West Germany.

This rather left the SNOC in limbo as the Olympic year approached even though commemorative stamps had been produced.

The matter was debated when the IOC met at the Hotel Miramonti in Cortina D’Ampezzo shortly before the 1956 Winter Olympics.

The minutes record that IOC President Avery Brundage "advised them to participate in the Games under their own colours, till the political situation of their country is officially  settled".

Officials from what was still technically Saarland were worried about future eligibility for the Games. 

"It will be necessary in this case to grant them a special authorization," Brundage said to reassure them.

In fact, by the time the teams travelled to Melbourne for the Olympics that November, canoeist Zenz was allowed to compete in German colours.

She won silver in the 500m kayak singles and went on to win further medals in Rome.

The SNOC had already been consigned to history.

"The Olympic Committee of Saarland has informed the International Olympic Committee that it has been dissolved and that all its sports organisations are attached to those of Germany," a note in the Olympic review recorded.

"The IOC, after maintaining the best relations would like to express its thanks to its leaders for the perfect courtesy they have shown in all circumstances as well as for the attachment they have always shown to the Olympic movement."

Not all sporting negotiations since have been quite as cordial.