Summer Olympiad (1932)

The 1932 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the X Olympiad, celebrated in Los Angeles, California, United States. Held during the worldwide Great Depression, many nations and athletes were unable to pay for the trip to Los Angeles. Fewer than half the number of participants from the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam competed in 1932. US President Herbert Hoover did not attend the Games, becoming the first sitting head of government to not appear at an Olympics hosted in that country. Nevertheless, the level of competition was extremely high and 18 world records were either broken or equaled. The crowds set records too, starting with the 100,000 people who attended the Opening Ceremony. The 1932 Olympics were the first to last 16 days. The duration of the Olympics has remained between 15 and 18 days ever since. Between 1900 and 1928, no Summer Olympics was shorter than 79 days. For the first time, the male athletes were housed in a single Olympic Village. (The women stayed in a luxury hotel.) At the victory ceremonies, the medal winners stood on a victory stand and the flag of the winner was raised. Official automatic timing was introduced for the track events, as was the photo-finish camera. 14-year-old Japanese Kusuo Kitamura won the 1,500m freestyle to become the youngest male in any sport ever to earn a gold medal in an individual event. 21-year-old American Babe Didrikson won the javelin throw and set world records in the high jump and the 80m hurdles. Ivar Johansson, a Swedish police officer, won gold medals in both freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling. Another Swedish wrestler, Carl Westergren, won his third Greco-Roman title, each in a different division.

Opening date: 30 July 1932

Closing date: 14 August 1932

Ceremonies

Official opening of the Games by: Vice-President Charles Curtis

Olympic Oath by: George Calnan (fencing)

Official Oath by: The first officials' oath was sworn at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich.

Participations

37 NOCs (Nations)
1,332 athletes (126 women, 1,206 men)
117 events

Country of the host city: United States of America (USA)

Sports

• Aquatics
• Athletics
• Boxing
• Cycling
• Equestrian
• Fencing
• Gymnastics
• Hockey
• Modern Pentathlon
• Rowing
• Sailing
• Shooting
• Weightlifting
• Wrestling

Demonstration sports

•        American Football
•        Lacrosse

Highlights

• An Olympic Village was built for the first time, in the Baldwin Hills, occupied by the male athletes. Female athletes were housed at the Chapman Park Hotel on Wilshire Boulevard.

• This was the first time when victory podium  used.

• Tenth Street, a major thoroughfare in Los Angeles, was renamed Olympic Boulevard in honor of the Games.

• Poland's Stanisława Walasiewicz won the gold medal in the women's 100 meters; she would also win the silver medal in the event four years later. After her death in 1980, it was discovered that she was intersex and would have been ineligible to participate.

• The high jump final came down to a duel between two friends, Van Osdel (USA-athletics) and McNaughton (CAN). With the bar at 1.97m, Van Osdel gave his opponent some technical advice. "Get your kick working and you will be over." McNaughton cleared the bar and won, while Van Osdel had to settle for the silver medal.

Facts

• A stadium built "the American way" - The Coliseum Olympic stadium stupefied the whole world by its proportions and the quality of its equipment.

• Football had to be completely removed from Olympic.

• The 1932 Olympic Games saw the introduction of automatic timing to one hundredth of a second and of the photo finish. As well as the appearance of the national anthems and the raising of flags in honour of the victors during the medal ceremonies. These ceremonies would take place henceforward at the competition site immediately after the end of the event and no longer for all the events together on the closing day.

• The Olympic Village (opposite picture) was reserved for men, and women stayed in the Chapman Park hotel.

• The number of participants put forward by the National Olympic Committees in individual events was limited to three.