1932 Summer Olympics / Athletics - 100 m (men)

sport	athletics
discipline	100 meter run
gender	Men
Attendees	33 athletes from 15 countries
Competition location	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
Competition phase	July 31, 1932 (preliminary / quarter-finals) August 1, 1932 (semi-final / final)
Medalist Eddie Tolan ( USA )   Ralph Metcalfe ( USA )   Arthur Jonath ( DEU )

The men's 100-meter run at the 1932 Olympic Games in Los Angeles was held on July 31 and August 1, 1932 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum . 33 athletes took part. For the first time at the Olympic Games, starting pistols , electronic timekeeping and target photos were used, but electronic timekeeping was only used unofficially.

The US sprinter Eddie Tolan was Olympic champion ahead of his compatriot Ralph Metcalfe . The German Arthur Jonath won the bronze medal.

Existing records

• World record : 10.3 s - Percy Williams ( Canada ), Toronto , August 9, 1930
• Olympic record : 10.6 s. This time was scored ten times at the Olympic Games:
  • Donald Lippincott ( USA ), 16th preliminary run at the Olympic Games in Stockholm , July 6, 1912
  • Charles Paddock ( USA ), in the final in Antwerp , August 16, 1920
  • Harold Abrahams ( Great Britain ), Olympic Games in Paris , three times on 29./30. July 1924
  • Percy Williams ( Canada ), Olympic Games in Amsterdam , twice on 29./30. July 1928
  • Robert McAllister ( USA ), first semi-final in Amsterdam , July 30, 1928
  • Wilfred Legg ( South African Union ), first semi-final in Amsterdam , July 30, 1928
  • Jack London ( Great Britain ), second semi-final in Amsterdam , July 30, 1928

Conducting the competition

On July 31, the runners competed in seven preliminary runs. The three fastest athletes each qualified for the quarter-finals on the same day. The three best runners from the four quarter-finals also made it to the next round, the semi-finals. In the preliminary rounds, the top three qualified for the final. The two semi-finals and the final were played on August 1st.

Note: The qualified athletes are highlighted in light blue. The run times given are the hand-stopped results from the official report. The results of the electrical timing, if available, are listed in the note.

Prelims

Date: July 13, 1932

Forward 1

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Eddie Tolan	United States	10.9 s
2	José de Almeida	Brazil	11.0 s
3	Fernando Ortíz	Mexico	11.2 s
4th	Valéry Théard	Haiti	11.4 s
5	António Alexandre Rodrigues	Portugal	11.5 s
DNF	Fred Reid	Great Britain

Forward 2

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	George Simpson	United States	10.9 s
2	Ernest Page	Great Britain	11.1 s
3	Andrej Engel	Czechoslovakia	11.2 s
4th	Bunoo Sutton	British India	11.4 s
5	Liu Changchun	China	11.5 s

Liu Changchun was the first athlete to take part in the Olympic Games for what was then the Republic of China .

Forward 3

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Arthur Jonath	German Empire	10.6 s	ORe
2	Allan Elliot	New Zealand	10.8 s
3	Izuo Anno	Japan	10.9 s
4th	Ronald Vernieux	British India	11.0 s
5	Samuel Giacosa	Argentina	11.1 s
6th	Francisco Muñagorri	Spain	k. A.

Forward 4

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Carlos Bianchi	Argentina	10.8 s
2	Helmut Körnig	German Empire	11.0 s
3	Percy Williams	Canada	11.1 s
4th	Jesús Moraila	Mexico	11.2 s

Forward 5

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Ralph Metcalfe	United States	11.0 s
2	Birchall Pearson	Canada	11.1 s
3	Angelos Lambrou	Greece	11.3 s
4th	Fernando Ramírez	Mexico	11.4 s

Forward 6

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Daniel Joubert	South African Union	11.0 s
2	Harold Wright	Canada	11.2 s
3	Ernst Geerling	German Empire	11.3 s
4th	Ricardo Guimarães	Brazil	11.4 s

Forward 7

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Takiyoshi Yoshioka	Japan	10.9 s
2	Christiaan Berger	Netherlands	11.1 s
3	Héctor Berra	Argentina	11.2 s
4th	Stanley Fuller	Great Britain	11.3 s
5	Mario Marques	Brazil	11.5 s

Quarter finals

Date: July 13, 1932

Run 1

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Eddie Tolan	United States	10.4 s	OR - electronic: 10.53 s
2	Carlos Bianchi	Argentina	10.5 s
3	Percy Williams	Canada	10.7 s
4th	Christiaan Berger	Netherlands	10.7 s
5	Fernando Ortíz	Mexico	11.0 s

Run 2

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	George Simpson	United States	10.7 s	electronic: 10.74 s
2	Harold Wright	Canada	10.9 s
3	Helmut Körnig	German Empire	11.0 s
4th	Andrej Engel	Czechoslovakia	11.1 s

Run 3

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Ralph Metcalfe	United States	10.7 s	electronic: 10.77 s
2	Takayoshi Yoshioka	Japan	10.8 s
3	Allan Elliot	New Zealand	k. A.
4th	Ernest Page	Great Britain	10.9 s
5	Ernst Geerling	German Empire	11.1 s

Run 4

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Arthur Jonath	German Empire	10.5 s	electronic: 10.68 s
2	Daniel Joubert	South African Union	10.6 s
3	Birchall Pearson	Canada	10.7 s
4th	José de Almeida	Brazil	10.8 s
5	Izuo Anno	Japan	10.9 s

Semifinals

Date: August 1, 1932

Run 1

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Eddie Tolan	United States	10.7 s	electronic: 10.81 s
2	Daniel Joubert	South African Union	10.8 s	electronic: 10.81 s
3	Takayoshi Yoshioka	Japan	10.8 s	electronic: 10.83 s
4th	Percy Williams	Canada	10.8 s	electronic: 10.91 s
5	Allan Elliot	New Zealand	11.0 s
6th	Helmut Körnig	German Empire	11.2 s

Run 2

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Ralph Metcalfe	United States	10.6 s	electronic: 10.65 s
2	George Simpson	United States	10.7 s	electronic: 10.70 s
3	Arthur Jonath	German Empire	10.7 s	electronic: 10.71 s
4th	Carlos Bianchi	Argentina	10.7 s	electronic: 10.73 s
5	Birchall Pearson	Canada	10.9 s	electronic: 10.95 s
6th	Harold Wright	Canada	11.1 s

final

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Eddie Tolan	United States	10.3 s	WRe / OR - electronic: 10.38 s
2	Ralph Metcalfe	United States	10.3 s	WRe / OR - electronic: 10.38 s
3	Arthur Jonath	German Empire	10.4 s	electronic: 10.50 s
4th	George Simpson	United States	10.5 s	electronic: 10.53 s
5	Daniel Joubert	South African Union	10.6 s	electronic: 10.60 s
6th	Takayoshi Yoshioka	Japan	10.7 s	electronic: 10.79 s

Date: August 1, 1932

In the final, the Japanese Takayoshi Yoshioka, the first Asian in a 100-meter final, got the best start. But Eddie Tolan of the 'Midnight Express', as his nickname was, was able to catch up with the Japanese after thirty meters and passed him. Ralph Metcalfe had caught up with Tolan twenty yards to go. The electronic time measurement showed 10.38 s for both runners. The finish photo also gave no information about the outcome of the race. The judges chose Tolan without realizing why. And this is the official result to this day: Gold for Tolan, silver for the Metcalfe at the same time, both officially stopped at 10.3 s, which meant a new Olympic record and the same time the world record was set . The bronze medal was won by the German champion Arthur Jonath with 10.4 seconds.

For the first time, all finalists stayed below the 11-second mark.
For the USA it was the fifth double success in the ninth Olympic final.
Electronic timing was already used in these games, but it was unofficial. The official times resulted solely from the hand-stopped values.

Picture gallery

• 

  Olympic Champion Eddie Tolan (USA) - photo from 1930

• 

  The first finalist from Asia: Takayoshi Yoshioka from Japan, who came in sixth

• 

  Helmut Körnig (DEU) was eliminated in the semi-finals.

• 

  The Canadian Olympic champion in Amsterdam in 1928 , world record holder Percy Williams, also failed in the semifinals.

• 

  For Christiaan Berger (NED) the quarter-finals were over.

• 

  Liu Changchun, the first Chinese to compete in the Olympic Games, was eliminated in the preliminary stages.

literature

• Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 1: 1896-1936, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 2nd edition 1970, pp. 224-226

Web links

• SportsReference 100 m , accessed September 16, 2017
• Official report pp. 402-405, engl. (PDF), accessed on September 16, 2017
• 1932 LA Olympic Men's 100m final - Olimpiadas Los Ángeles 1932 final 100 metros lisos masculinos , published on January 1, 2013 on youtube.com, accessed on September 16, 2017

Individual evidence

1. ↑ IAAF Statistics Handbook, Berlin 2009 page 546 ( Memento from June 29, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
2. ↑ SportsReference (Eng.)