1936 Summer Olympics / Athletics - 800 m (men)

sport	athletics
discipline	800 meter run
gender	Men
Attendees	42 athletes from 23 countries
Competition location	Olympiastadion Berlin
Competition phase	August 2, 1936 (preliminary) August 3, 1936 (semi-finals) August 5, 1936 (final)
Winning time	1: 52.9 min
Medalist John Woodruff ( USA ) Mario Lanzi ( ITA ) Phil Edwards ( USA )
← 1932 1948 →

The men's 800-meter run at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin was held from August 2 to 4, 1936 in the Berlin Olympic Stadium. 42 athletes took part.

Olympic champion was the American John Woodruff ahead of the Italian Mario Lanzi . Phil Edwards from Canada won bronze .

Existing records

• World record : 1.49.8 min - Tommy Hampson ( Great Britain ), Los Angeles , August 2, 1932 and Ben Eastman ( USA ), Princeton , June 16, 1934, over 880  yards = 804.67 m
• Olympic record : 1.49.8 min - Tommy Hampson ( Great Britain ), Los Angeles final , August 2, 1932

Conducting the competition

The runners competed in six heats on August 2nd. The four best athletes each qualified for the semifinals. From the three preliminary rounds held on August 3rd, the three best runners made it to the final on August 5th.

Note: The qualified athletes are highlighted in light blue.

Prelims

August 6, 1936, 10.30 a.m.

Weather conditions: overcast, 19 ° C, wind speeds of approx. 2.0 m / s.

Not all times have been passed down.

Forward 1

Surprisingly eliminated in the run-up: the German Rudolf Harbig (shown here on a postage stamp of the Deutsche Bundespost from 1968).

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Phil Edwards	Canada	1: 53.7 min
2	Charles Hornbostel	United States	1: 53.7 min
3	Jean Verhaert	Belgium	1: 54.3 min
4th	Ferenc Temesvári	Hungary	1: 55.0 min
5	Pierre Hemmer	Luxembourg	1: 56.3 min
6th	Rudolf Harbig	German Empire	1: 56.8 min
7th	Francisco Váldez	Peru	k. A.
8th	Stavros Velkopoulos	Greece

Forward 2

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Harry Williamson	United States	1: 56.2 min
2	Charles Conway	Canada	1: 56.2 min
3	Pat boat	New Zealand	1: 56.6 min
4th	Emil Huebscher	Austria	1: 57.3 min
5	Emil Goršek	Yugoslavia	1: 59.5 min
6th	Carlos Marcenaro	Peru	2: 00.8 min

Forward 3

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Brian MacCabe	Great Britain	1: 54.5 min
2	Raymond Petit	France	1: 54.8 min
3	Hjalmar Johannessen	Norway	1: 54.9 min
4th	Ewald Mertens	German Empire	1: 55.1 min
5	Clarke Scholtz	South African Union	1: 57.6 min
6th	Toshinao Tomie	Japan	1: 59.9 min
7th	Stanislav Otáhal	Czechoslovakia	k. A.
8th	Gyan Bhalla	British India

Forward 4

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Gerald Backhouse	Australia	1: 57.7 min
2	Miklós Szabó	Hungary	1: 57.8 min
3	John Woodruff	United States	1: 58.7 min
4th	Frank Handley	Great Britain	1: 58.9 min
5	Evžen Rošický	Czechoslovakia	1: 59.5 min
6th	Paul Martin	Switzerland	2: 00.0 min
7th	Charles stone	Luxembourg	k. A.

Forward 5

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Jack Powell	Great Britain	1: 56.0 min
2	Mario Lanzi	Italy	1: 56.1 min
3	Franz Eichberger	Austria	1: 56.3 min
4th	József Vadas	Hungary	1: 56.5 min
5	Willie Botha	South African Union	1: 57.0 min
6th	Grigorios Georgakopoulos	Greece	1: 57.3 min
7th	Jack Liddle	Canada	k. A.

Forward 6

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Juan Carlos Anderson	Argentina	1: 55.1 min
2	Kazimierz Kucharski	Poland	1: 55.7 min
3	Wolfgang Dessecker	German Empire	1: 56.0 min
4th	René Soulier	France	1: 56.1 min
5	William Lindeque	South African Union	1: 56.4 min
6th	Kumao Aochi	Japan	1: 56.8 min

Semifinals

Reached the 800 meter final for the third time in a row : Phil Edwards (CAN) - fourth in 1928 / third in 1932 and 1936

Kazimierz Kucharski from Poland finished fourth in the final.

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

Weather conditions: overcast, 19 ° C, wind speed at approx. 2.4 m / s

Not all dates have been handed down.

Run 1

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	John Woodruff	United States	1: 52.7 min
2	Kazimierz Kucharski	Poland	1: 54.7 min
3	Juan Carlos Anderson	Argentina	1: 54.8 min
4th	Miklós Szabó	Hungary	1: 55.1 min
5	Wolfgang Dessecker	German Empire	1: 55.3 min
6th	Franz Eichberger	Austria	1: 56.2 min
7th	Pat boat	New Zealand	k. A.
8th	Frank Handley	Great Britain

Run 2

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Harry Williamson	United States	1: 53.1 min
2	Gerald Backhouse	Australia	1: 53.2 min
3	Phil Edwards	Canada	1: 53.2 min
4th	Jack Powell	Great Britain	1: 54.8 min
5	Ewald Mertens	German Empire	1: 54.9 min
6th	René Soulier	France	1: 56.8 min
7th	Emil Huebscher	Austria	k. A.
8th	József Vadas	Hungary

Run 3

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Charles Hornbostel	United States	1: 53.2 min
2	Mario Lanzi	Italy	1: 54.1 min
3	Brian MacCabe	Great Britain	1: 55.4 min
4th	Raymond Petit	France	1: 55.7 min
5	Charles Conway	Canada	1: 55.9 min
6th	Hjalmar Johannessen	Norway	1: 56.0 min
7th	Ferenc Temesvári	Hungary	k. A.
8th	Jean Verhaert	Belgium

final

Olympic Champion John Woodruff (USA)

August 4, 1936, 5.45 p.m.

Weather conditions: slightly cloudy, 17.2 ° C, wind speed of 3.7 m / s.

John Woodruff came up with an enormous jump in performance over 800 meters in the Olympic year , similar to what Archie Williams did over 400 meters . Woodruff improved from 1: 55.1 min in 1935 as the winner of the US Olympic eliminations to 1: 49.9 min. So he traveled to Berlin as a co-favorite . In the final, the Canadian Phil Edwards, Olympic champion in 1928 and bronze medalist in 1932 , was there again. In the past he had always re-designed his races at high speed. This time he took the lead again, but contrary to his usual practice he ran at the speed of a slow train. So there were a few minor bumps in the field. The 400 meter mark was passed in 57.4 s. Woodruff was the first to take the initiative, took the lead with a strong acceleration and immediately put a few meters between himself and the rest of the field. The Italian Mario Lanzi now sprinted past his opponent from far behind, but could no longer reach Woodruff. There was gold for Woodruff, silver for Lanzi and again bronze for Edwards.

Phil Edwards won his third bronze medal here after finishing third in the 800 meters and 1500 meters in 1932 . He also reached fourth place over 800 meters in 1928 .

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	John Woodruff	United States	1: 52.9 min
2	Mario Lanzi	Italy	1: 53.3 min
3	Phil Edwards	Canada	1: 53.6 min
4th	Kazimierz Kucharski	Poland	1: 53.8 min
5	Charles Hornbostel	United States	1: 54.6 min
6th	Harry Williamson	United States	1: 55.8 min
7th	Juan Carlos Anderson	Argentina	k. A.
8th	Gerald Backhouse	Australia
9	Brian MacCabe	Great Britain

literature

Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 1: 1896-1936, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 2nd edition 1970, pp. 272-274

Video

1936, 800m, Men, Olympic Games, Berlin , published July 28, 2013 on youtube.com, accessed September 19, 2017

Web links

• SportsReference 800 m ,
• Official report pp. 627–629, engl. (PDF),

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 1: 1896-1936, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 2nd edition 1970, p. 274
2. ↑ IAAF Statistics Handbook, Berlin 2009 page 548 ( Memento from June 29, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
3. ↑ Official report ( Memento of the original dated January 30, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. P. 627, engl. (PDF) 
4. ↑ Official report ( Memento of the original dated January 30, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. P. 628, engl. (PDF) 
5. ↑ Official report ( Memento of the original dated January 30, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. P. 629, engl. (PDF) 
6. ↑ Official report ( Memento of the original dated January 30, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. P. 604, engl. (PDF)