Summer Olympiad (1936)

The 1936 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XI Olympiad, held in Berlin, Germany. These Olympic Games were the first to be contested by IOC members casting their votes for their favorite choice host city. The 1936 Olympics, held in Berlin, are best remembered for Adolf Hitler’s failed attempt to use them to prove his theories of Aryan racial superiority. As it turned out, the most popular hero of the Games was the African-American sprinter and long jumper Jesse Owens, who won four gold medals. During the long jump competition, Owens German rival, Luz Long, publicly befriended him in front of the Nazis. 1936 saw the introduction of the torch relay, in which a lighted torch is carried from Olympia to the site of the current Games. The 1936 Olympics were also the first to be broadcast on a form of television. Twenty-five large screens were set up throughout Berlin, allowing the local people to see the Games for free. Basketball, canoeing and team handball made their first appearances, while polo was included in the Olympic programme for the last time. Thirteen-year-old Marjorie Gestring of the United States won the gold medal in springboard diving. She remains the youngest female gold medalist in the history of the Summer Olympics. Inge Sorensen of Denmark earned a bronze medal in the 200m breaststroke at the age of 12, making her the youngest medalist ever in an individual event. Hungarian water polo player Olivier Halassy won his third medal despite the fact that one of his legs had been amputated below the knee following a streetcar accident. Rower Jack Beresford of Great Britain won a gold medal in the double sculls event, marking the fifth Olympics at which he earned a medal.

Opening date: 01 August 1936

Closing date: 16 August 1936

Ceremonies

Official opening of the Games by: Chancellor Adolf Hitler

Lighting the Olympic Flame by: Fritz Schilgen (athletics)

Olympic Oath by: Rudolf Ismayr (weightlifting)

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

Participations

49 NOCs (Nations)
3,963 athletes (331 women, 3,632 men)
129 events

Country of the host city: Germany (GER)

Candidate cities: Barcelona (ESP)

Sports

• Aquatics
• Athletics
• Basketball
• Boxing
• Canoe / Kayak
• Cycling
• Equestrian
• Fencing
• Football
• Gymnastics
• Handball
• Hockey
• Modern Pentathlon
• Polo
• Rowing
• Sailing
• Shooting
• Weightlifting
• Wrestling

Demonstration sports

•        Baseball
•        Gliding

Highlights

• Jesse Owens (USA-athletics) became a sporting hero after winning four gold medals (100m, 200m, 4x100m relay and long jump), which did much to undermine Hitler's myth of Aryan superiority. He was one of the first athletes in the United States to see his popularity cross racial boundaries.United States Olympic Committee president Avery Brundage became a main supporter of the games being held in Germany, arguing that "politics has no place in sport", despite having initial doubts.

• The Olympic Flame was used for the second time at these games, but this marked the first time it was brought to the Olympic Town by a torch relay, with the starting point in Olympia, Greece.

• The games were the first to have live television coverage. The German Post Office, using equipment from Telefunken and Fernseh, broadcast over seventy hours of coverage to special viewing rooms throughout Berlin and Potsdam and a few private TV sets, over Paul Nipkow TV Station. The broadcasts were used as a plot element in Contact, a science fiction novel by Carl Sagan, later adapted as a movie.

• Basketball and handball made their debut at the Olympics, both as outdoor sports. Handball would not appear again on the program until 1972.

• The Republic of China's Three Principles of the People was chosen as the best national anthem of the games.

• India won the gold medal in the field hockey event once again (they won the gold in all Olympics from 1928-1956, though they did not win any other awards in any other sport), defeating Germany 8-1 in the final. However, the Germans considered Indians Indo-Aryans and there was no controversy regarding their victory.

Facts

• These Games saw the introduction of the torch relay based on an idea by Dr Carl Diem - lighted torch was carried from Olympia to the site of the Games through 7 countries- Greece, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Austria and Germany: a total journey of more than 3,000 km.

• Apart from medals, the athletes received a winner's crown and an oak tree in a pot.