1936 Summer Olympics / Athletics - 4 × 100 m (men)

sport	athletics
discipline	4 x 100 meter relay
gender	Men
Attendees	60 athletes from 15 countries
Competition location	Olympiastadion Berlin
Competition phase	August 8, 1936 (preliminary) August 9, 1936 (final)
Medalist  United States  ITA  DEU

The men's 4 x 100 meter relay at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin was held on August 8 and 9, 1936 in the Olympic Stadium in Berlin . Sixty athletes took part in fifteen seasons.

The US squadron ( Jesse Owens , Ralph Metcalfe , Foy Draper , Frank Wykoff ) won the gold medal in a new world record time . Silver went to the Italian team with Orazio Mariani , Gianni Caldana , Elio Ragni and Tullio Gonnelli . The German season won the bronze medal in the line-up of Wilhelm Leichum , Erich Borchmeyer , Erwin Gillmeister and Gerd Hornberger .

Existing records

• World record : 40.0 s - USA ( Bob Kiesel , Emmett Toppino , Hector Dyer , Frank Wykoff ), Los Angeles , August 7, 1932
• Olympic record : 40.0 seconds - USA ( Bob Kiesel , Emmett Toppino , Hector Dyer , Frank Wykoff ), Los Angeles final , August 7, 1932

Conducting the competition

On August 8th, three preliminary runs were completed. The two best teams qualified for the final on August 9th.

Note: The qualified relays are highlighted in light blue.

Prelims

August 8, 1936, 3 p.m.

Weather conditions: overcast, 19.4 ° C, wind speeds of approx. 1.9 m / s. Cross wind on the straights.

Forward 1

space	Season	occupation	time	annotation
1	United States	Jesse Owens Ralph Metcalfe Foy Draper Frank Wykoff	40.0 s	WRe
2	Italy	Orazio Mariani Gianni Caldana Elio Ragni Tullio Gonnelli	41.1 s
3	South African Union	Eric Grimbeek Pat Dannaher Tom Lavery Marthinus Theunissen	41.7 s
4th	Finland	Toivo Ahjopalo Toivo Sariola Palle Virtanen Aki Tammisto	42.0 s
DSQ	Japan	Takayoshi Yoshioka Monta Suzuki Mutsuo Taniguchi Masao Yazawa

Forward 2

space	Season	occupation	time	annotation
1	Netherlands	Tjeerd Boersma Wil van Beveren Christiaan Berger Martinus Osendarp	41.3 s
2	Argentina	Juan Lavenás Antonio Sande Carlos Hofmeister Tomás Beswick	41.9 s
3	Hungary	Mario Minai Gyula Gyenes József Kovács József Sir	42.0 s
4th	Great Britain	Charles Wiard Don Finlay Walter Rangeley Alan Pennington	42.4 s
5	France	Maurice Carlton Pierre Dondelinger Paul Bronner Robert Paul	42.6 s
6th	China	Poh Kimseng Huang Yingjie Chen Kingkwan Liu Changchun	44.8 s

Forward 3

space	Season	occupation	time	annotation
1	German Empire	Wilhelm Leichum Erich Borchmeyer Erwin Gillmeister Gerd Hornberger	41.4 s
2	Canada	Sam Richardson Bruce Humber Lee Orr Howard McPhee	41.5 s
3	Sweden	Lennart Lindgren Irvin Ternström Östen Sandström Åke Stenqvist	41.5 s
4th	Switzerland	Albert Jud Bernard Marchand Georges Meyer Paul Hänni	42.2 s

final

space	Season	occupation	time	annotation
1	United States	Jesse Owens Ralph Metcalfe Foy Draper Frank Wykoff	39.8 s	WR
2	Italy	Orazio Mariani Gianni Caldana Elio Ragni Tullio Gonnelli	41.1 s
3	German Empire	Wilhelm Leichum Erich Borchmeyer Erwin Gillmeister Gerd Hornberger	41.2 s
4th	Argentina	Juan Lavenás Antonio Sande Carlos Hofmeister Tomás Beswick	42.2 s
5	Canada	Sam Richardson Bruce Humber Lee Orr Howard McPhee	42.7 s
DSQ	Netherlands	Tjeerd Boersma Wil van Beveren Christiaan Berger Martinus Osendarp

August 9, 1936, 3:15 p.m.

Weather conditions: sunny, 22.3 ° C, wind speed of 1.6 m / s. Cross wind on the straights.

Against the superiority of the US squadron, which, contrary to previous practice, had the best cast - see next chapter , no other season could achieve anything. The USA set the existing world record in advance . In the final, the team ran even faster and was the first season ever to stay below the 40-second mark with 39.8 seconds. Italy was clearly beaten second. The Dutch were in third place, but the final runner Martinus Osendarp lost the baton, so that the German relay got a bronze medal. The gold relay world record was not beaten until twenty years later at the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne .

With 39.8 seconds, a season stayed below the 40-second limit for the first time.

Jesse Owens won his fourth gold medal at the Berlin Games .

In the sixth Olympic final, the US team won its fifth gold medal.

Speculation about the line-up change

Originally it was expected that the coach of the US team, Lawson Robertson , would provide the US season with the actually not strongest line-up Frank Wykoff , Foy Draper , Marty Glickman and Sam Stoller . In the past, it was common practice with US relays that the substitute runners in the relay got their deployment opportunities, which was usually possible without any problems due to the superiority of the US sprinters without jeopardizing the chances of winning the relay Olympic. However, Glickman and Stoller, both Jews , have now been replaced by Jesse Owens and Ralph Metcalfe. It was speculated that the two Jewish sprinters were exchanged in order not to offend the Germans under the Nazi regime . In other representations it was heard that the Germans had spared their best runners in the individual races for this relay, so that the US team would not be able to do without the relay deployment of Owens and Metcalfe in view of the chances of victory.

In addition, it was rumored that Owens had tried to talk Robertson out of exchanging the runners originally planned for the mission and to set up Glickman and Stoller.

literature

• Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 1: 1896-1936, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 2nd edition 1970, pp. 302f

Web links

• SportsReference 4 × 100 m , accessed on September 20, 2017
• Official report pp. 657–659, engl. (PDF), accessed on September 20, 2017
• 1936, 4x100m, Men, Olympic Games, Berlin , published on July 28, 2013 on youtube.com, accessed on September 20, 2017

Individual evidence

1. ↑ IAAF Statistics Handbook, Berlin 2009, page 561 ( Memento from June 29, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
2. ↑ ^{a b} Official report p. 659, engl. (PDF)
3. ↑ Official report p. 606, engl. (PDF)
4. ↑ SportsReference (Eng.)