What was the process for dealing with the 1916 Berlin Olympics?

The Olympics prior to World War I were organized differently than what would come later. The IOC did not really have a headquarters yet and only meet for meetings. The only concrete IOC location was the site of the next Olympiad. From there they would be able to control the marketing and activities leading up to the Games. The IOC was later established to Lausanne, Switzerland. Coubertin needed a free place to live as he lost all his money in Imperial Russian Bonds that became worthless during the war.

When WWI started people thought it would be over quickly and by 1915 there was still hopes the event would take place. Coubertin wanted Berlin as the site as he thought it would still be able to host despite pleading from US and British members. Once it because clear that the Games would not be held it was Coubertin who said that the Games would still exist in memory by number. Berlin was suppose to be a great event. Germany had long hosted Turnfests that had 100s of competitors from as far as the USA. Berlin was to build upon the Stockholm 1912 Games which woulds serve as a model for future games for years to come.

One thing people forget is that the Berlin 1916 organizers were looking to integrate winter sports into the Olympics. Stockholm was asked in 1912 but said no as they wanted to keep their Nordic Games (held in the Winter) separate. They would also not include ice skating as it was too expensive (they claimed) to make a covered rink. With Berlin hosting it was decided to hold a Winter Olympics for February 1916 in Feldberg in the Black Forest. The IOC agreed but requested that there would be at least 6 countries in each event (skiing, skating, hockey) but the war cancelled everything and we had to wait until 1924 for the first Winter Games.