Facilities and opening ceremony (left) and
Ralph Hill finishing the 5000 m race at the 1932 Olympics
Charles Curtis became the first and only
U.S. Vice President to inaugurate the
Summer Olympic Games. An
Olympic Village was built for the first time and became a model for future games, in
Baldwin Hills, occupied by male athletes. Female athletes were housed at the Chapman Park Hotel on
Wilshire Boulevard. Tenth Street, a major thoroughfare in Los Angeles, was renamed
Olympic Boulevard in honor of the Games of the Tenth Olympiad. The
Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum was known in 1932 as
Olympic Stadium. The victory podium was used for the first time at the Summer Games (a podium was also used earlier in the year at the
1932 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid). An
Olympic mascot, Scottish Terrier
Smoky, was featured for the first time in history, albeit unofficially.
Athletics and field events Babe Didrikson won two gold medals in the
javelin and the hurdles event. She also competed in a jump-off for a gold in the high jump. Her technique in the jump-off was ruled illegal, leaving Didrikson with second place. Finland's
Paavo Nurmi was suspended from competition by the
IAAF for alleged violation of amateur rules. Finns charged that the Swedish officials had used devious tricks in their campaign against Nurmi's amateur status, and ceased all athletic relations with Sweden. A year earlier, controversies on the track and in the press had led Finland to withdraw from the
Finland-Sweden athletics international. After Nurmi's suspension, Finland did not agree to return to the event until 1939. Several women's events debuted at these games, among them the
80 meters hurdles and
javelin throw.
Babe Didrikson won both events and also competed in the
high jump where she was controversially denied gold, leaving her with silver. As women, unlike men, were only allowed to enter a maximum of three events, Didrikson could not compete in the discus throw, long jump, and relay where she would have likely medaled based on her prior results. Had the 200 meters and pentathlon been contested at these games (they debuted in 1964), Didrikson would have won them easily based on her performances prior to the Olympics.
Team sports In
field hockey, only three nations took part. The host nation lost both matches, 1–24 to India and 2–9 to Japan, but still won a bronze medal.
Gymnastics Romeo Neri won three gold medals in gymnastics. Although women's team gymnastics debuted in the
previous Olympics, the event was not held in these games; however, there were women gymnasts who traveled to Los Angeles and participated in exhibition events at the 1932 games.
Swimming Helene Madison won three gold medals in swimming, while the Japanese upset the men's events and took all but one title.
Kusuo Kitamura won the gold medal in the men's 1500 meter freestyle swimming race. He was and continues to be the youngest ever male swimmer to win a gold medal at the Olympic Games.
Equestrian Takeichi Nishi (Baron Nishi) was the gold medalist with his horse Uranus in the equestrian
show jumping individual event. Nishi's gold medal is Japan's only gold medal in the equestrian event to this day. Nishi died in 1945 as an officer stationed in the defense of the island of
Iwo Jima, and as such is an important character in
Clint Eastwood's film,
Letters from Iwo Jima.
Cycling Dunc Gray won Australia's first cycling gold medal; he set a world record of 1m 13s in the 1000
time trial. The
Dunc Gray Velodrome, built for the
2000 Sydney Olympic Games, was named after him. ==Medals awarded==