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Athletics
at the Games of the XI Olympiad
Athletics; at the Games of the XI Olympiad
	The newly-built Olympiastadion (pictured in 2015) hosted the events
No. of events	29
Competitors	776 from 43 nations
	← 1932 1948 →

At the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, 29 athletics events were contested, 23 for men and 6 for women. The program of events was unchanged from the previous Games. There was a total of 776 participants from 43 countries competing.

Medal summary


Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	United States (USA)	14	7	4	25
2	Germany (GER)	5	4	7	16
3	Finland (FIN)	3	5	2	10
4	Great Britain (GBR)	2	5	0	7
5	Japan (JPN)	2	2	3	7
6	Italy (ITA)	1	2	2	5
7	Hungary (HUN)	1	0	0	1
7	New Zealand (NZL)	1	0	0	1
9	Poland (POL)	0	2	1	3
10	Canada (CAN)	0	1	3	4
11	Switzerland (SUI)	0	1	0	1
12	Netherlands (NED)	0	0	2	2
12	Sweden (SWE)	0	0	2	2
14	Australia (AUS)	0	0	1	1
	Latvia (LAT)	0	0	1	1
	Philippines (PHI)	0	0	1	1
Totals (16 entries)		29	29	29	87

Men

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
100 metres details	Jesse Owens United States	10.3	Ralph Metcalfe United States	10.4	Tinus Osendarp Netherlands	10.5
200 metres details	Jesse Owens United States	20.7	Mack Robinson United States	21.1	Tinus Osendarp Netherlands	21.3
400 metres details	Archie Williams United States	46.5	Godfrey Brown Great Britain	46.7	Jimmy LuValle United States	46.8
800 metres details	John Woodruff United States	1:52.9	Mario Lanzi Italy	1:53.3	Phil Edwards Canada	1:53.6
1500 metres details	Jack Lovelock New Zealand	3:47.8	Glenn Cunningham United States	3:48.4	Luigi Beccali Italy	3:49.2
5000 metres details	Gunnar Höckert Finland	14:22.2	Lauri Lehtinen Finland	14:25.8	Henry Jonsson Sweden	14:29.0
10,000 metres details	Ilmari Salminen Finland	30:15.4	Arvo Askola Finland	30:15.6	Volmari Iso-Hollo Finland	30:20.2
110 metres hurdles details	Forrest Towns United States	14.2	Don Finlay Great Britain	14.4	Fritz Pollard United States	14.4
400 metres hurdles details	Glenn Hardin United States	52.4	John Loaring Canada	52.7	Miguel White Philippines	52.8
3000 metres steeplechase details	Volmari Iso-Hollo Finland	9:03.8	Kaarlo Tuominen Finland	9:06.8	Alfred Dompert Germany	9:07.2
4 × 100 metres relay details	United States (USA) Jesse Owens Ralph Metcalfe Foy Draper Frank Wykoff	39.8	Italy (ITA) Orazio Mariani Gianni Caldana Elio Ragni Tullio Gonnelli	41.1	Germany (GER) Wilhelm Leichum Erich Borchmeyer Erwin Gillmeister Gerd Hornberger	41.2
4 × 400 metres relay details	Great Britain (GBR) Freddie Wolff Godfrey Rampling Bill Roberts Godfrey Brown	3:09.0	United States (USA) Harold Cagle Robert Young Edward O’Brien Al Fitch	3:11.0	Germany (GER) Helmut Hamann Friedrich Von Stülpnagel Harry Voigt Rudolf Harbig	3:11.8
Marathon details	Son Kitei Japan^[1]	2:29:19.2	Ernest Harper Great Britain	2:31:23.2	Nan Shoryu Japan^[1]	2:31:42.0
50 kilometres walk details	Harold Whitlock Great Britain	4:30:41.4	Arthur Tell Schwab Switzerland	4:32:09.2	Adalberts Bubenko Latvia	4:32:42.2
High jump details	Cornelius Johnson United States	2.03 m	Dave Albritton United States	2.00 m	Delos Thurber United States	2.00 m
Pole vault details	Earle Meadows United States	4.35 m	Shuhei Nishida Japan	4.25 m	Sueo Ōe Japan	4.25 m
Long jump details	Jesse Owens United States	8.06 m	Luz Long Germany	7.87 m	Naoto Tajima Japan	7.74 m
Triple jump details	Naoto Tajima Japan	16.00 m	Masao Harada Japan	15.66 m	Jack Metcalfe Australia	15.50 m
Shot put details	Hans Woellke Germany	16.20 m	Sulo Bärlund Finland	16.12 m	Gerhard Stöck Germany	15.66 m
Discus throw details	Ken Carpenter United States	50.48 m	Gordon Dunn United States	49.36 m	Giorgio Oberweger Italy	49.23 m
Hammer throw details	Karl Hein Germany	56.49 m	Erwin Blask Germany	55.04 m	Fred Warngård Sweden	54.83 m
Javelin throw details	Gerhard Stöck Germany	71.84 m	Yrjö Nikkanen Finland	70.77 m	Kalervo Toivonen Finland	70.72 m
Decathlon details	Glenn Morris United States	7900	Bob Clark United States	7601	Jack Parker United States	7275

Women

Games	Gold		Silver		Bronze
100 metres details	Helen Stephens United States	11.5	Stanisława Walasiewicz Poland	11.7	Käthe Krauß Germany	11.9
80 metres hurdles details	Trebisonda Valla Italy	11.7	Anni Steuer Germany	11.7	Betty Taylor Canada	11.7
4 × 100 metres relay details	United States (USA) Harriet Bland Annette Rogers Betty Robinson Helen Stephens	46.9	Great Britain (GBR) Eileen Hiscock Violet Olney Audrey Brown Barbara Burke	47.6	Canada (CAN) Dorothy Brookshaw Mildred Dolson Hilda Cameron Aileen Meagher	47.8
High jump details	Ibolya Csák Hungary	1.60 m	Dorothy Odam Great Britain	1.60 m	Elfriede Kaun Germany	1.60 m
Discus throw details	Gisela Mauermayer Germany	47.63 m	Jadwiga Wajs Poland	46.22 m	Paula Mollenhauer Germany	39.80 m
Javelin throw details	Tilly Fleischer Germany	45.18 m	Luise Krüger Germany	43.29 m	Maria Kwaśniewska Poland	41.80 m

Records broken

20 new Olympic records and 6 new world records were set in the athletics events.

Men's Olympic and world records

Event	Date	Round	Name	Nationality	Result	OR	WR
200 metres	5 August	Final	Jesse Owens	United States	20.7	OR
1500 meters	6 August	Final	Jack Lovelock	New Zealand	3:47.8	OR	WR
5000 metres	7 August	Final	Gunnar Höckert	Finland	14:22.2	OR
110 metres hurdles	6 August	Semi-final	Forrest Towns	United States	14.1	OR	WR
3000 metres steeplechase	8 August	Final	Volmari Iso-Hollo	Finland	9:03.8	OR	^[2]
4 × 100 metres relay	9 August	Final	Jesse Owens Ralph Metcalfe Foy Draper Frank Wykoff	United States	39.8	OR	WR
Marathon	9 August	Final	Son Kitei	Japan	2:29:19.2	OR
50 kilometres walk	5 August	Final	Harold Whitlock	Great Britain	4:30:41.4	OR
Long jump	4 August	Final	Jesse Owens	United States	8.06 m	OR^[3]
Triple jump	6 August	Final	Naoto Tajima	Japan	16.00 m	OR	WR
High jump	2 August	Final	Cornelius Johnson	United States	2.03 m	OR
Pole vault	5 August	Final	Earle Meadows	United States	4.35 m	OR
Shot put	2 August	Final	Hans Woellke	Germany	16.20 m	OR
Discus throw	5 August	Final	Ken Carpenter	United States	50.48 m	OR
Hammer throw	3 August	Final	Karl Hein	Germany	56.49 m	OR
Decathlon	8 August	Final	Glenn Morris	United States	7900	OR	WR

Women's Olympic and world records

Event	Date	Round	Name	Nationality	Result	OR	WR
80 metres hurdles	5 August	Semi-final	Trebisonda Valla	Italy	11.6	OR^[3]
4 × 100 metres relay	8 August	Heats	Emmy Albus Käthe Krauß Marie Dollinger Ilse Dörffeldt	Germany	46.4	OR	WR
Discus throw	4 August	Final	Gisela Mauermayer	Germany	47.63 m	OR
Javelin throw	2 August	Final	Tilly Fleischer	Germany	45.18 m	OR

References

1936 Summer Olympics results: athletics, from https://www.sports-reference.com/; retrieved 2010-04-05.
International Olympic Committee results database

Notes

^ ^a ^b Both Sohn Kee-chung (Son Kitei) and Nam Sung-yong (Nan Shoryu) were from Korea. The IOC credits both medals to Japan due to Korea being a Japanese colony at the time. All Korean Olympians during the Japanese colonial rule could only participate in the Games as a representative of Japan and Japan required them to use the Japanese forms of their names. However, some sources still refer to Son Kitei as the first Korean to win an Olympic marathon.
^ Was a "world best" time as world records were not yet recognised for the event.
^ ^a ^b Wind-aided mark recognised as Olympic record.

52°30′53″N 13°14′22″E / 52.5147°N 13.2394°E / 52.5147; 13.2394

[Son-1] Both Sohn Kee-chung (Son Kitei) and Nam Sung-yong (Nan Shoryu) were from Korea. The IOC credits both medals to Japan due to Korea being a Japanese colony at the time. All Korean Olympians during the Japanese colonial rule could only participate in the Games as a representative of Japan and Japan required them to use the Japanese forms of their names. However, some sources still refer to Son Kitei as the first Korean to win an Olympic marathon.

[WB-2] Was a "world best" time as world records were not yet recognised for the event.

[wind-3] Wind-aided mark recognised as Olympic record.

[1]

[2]

[3]

Athletics at the 1936 Summer Olympics

Track events
100 m	men	women
200 m	men
400 m	men
800 m	men
1500 m	men
5000 m	men
10,000 m	men
80 m hurdles		women
110 m hurdles	men
400 m hurdles	men
3000 m steeple	men
4 × 100 m relay	men	women
4 × 400 m relay	men
Road events
Marathon	men
50 km walk	men
Field events
Long jump	men
Triple jump	men
High jump	men	women
Pole vault	men
Shot put	men
Discus throw	men	women
Javelin throw	men	women
Hammer throw	men
Combined events
Decathlon	men