1936 Summer Olympics

At the 28th IOC Session, held in May 1930 in Berlin, 14 cities announced their intention to bid to host the 1936 Summer Olympic Games. Helsinki, Rome, Barcelona, and Rio de Janeiro would go on to host the Olympic Games in 1952, 1960, 1992, and 2016, respectively. The games were the first for which the host was decided by a vote of each individual IOC member. The deadline for votes was 13 May 1931, two weeks after the Barcelona Session. After the Nazis took control of Germany and began instituting anti-Semitic policies, the IOC held private discussions among its delegates about changing the decision to hold the Games in Berlin. However, Hitler's regime gave assurances that Jewish athletes would be allowed to compete on a German Olympic team. One year before the games, the American Olympic Association suggested to change the venue to Rome; they saw Rome as a good replacement because Rome was originally selected to hold the 1908 Summer Olympics. The proposal was not seriously discussed. ==Organization==

Hans von Tschammer und Osten, as Reichssportführer (head of the National Socialist League of the Reich for Physical Exercise (Deutscher Reichsbund für Leibesübungen, DRL) and the Reich Sports Office) played a major role in the structure and organisation of the Olympics. He promoted the idea that the use of sports would harden the German spirit and instill unity among German youth. At the same time, he also believed that sports was a "way to weed out the weak, Jewish, and other undesirables". Von Tschammer entrusted the details of the organisation of the Games to the president of the German Olympic Committee, Theodor Lewald, Torch Relay The 1936 Summer Olympics torch relay was the first of its kind, following on from the reintroduction of the Olympic Flame at the 1928 Games. It pioneered the modern convention of moving the flame via a relay system from Greece to the Olympic venue. Leni Riefenstahl filmed the relay for the 1938 film Olympia. Broadcasting The games were the first to have live television coverage in black-and-white. The Games were also the first photographed and filmed in color using newly invented Agfacolor. Olympic Village The 1936 Olympic village was located at Elstal in Wustermark (at ), on the western edge of Berlin. The site, which is from the centre of the city, consisted of one and two-floor dormitories, a large dining hall, Dining Hall of the Nations, a swimming facility, a gymnasium, track, and other training facilities. Its layout was designed and construction was overseen by the appointed village commander Hauptmann Wolfgang Fürstner beginning in 1934. Less than two months before the start of the Olympic Games, Fürstner was abruptly demoted to vice-commander, and replaced by Oberstleutnant Werner von Gilsa, commander of the Berlin Guard-Regiment. The official reason for the replacement was that Fürstner had not acted "with the necessary energy" to prevent damage to the site as 370,000 visitors passed through it between 1 May and 15 June. However, this was just a cover story to explain the sudden demotion of the half-Jewish officer. The 1935 Nuremberg Laws, passed during the period Fürstner was overseeing the Olympic Village, had classified him as a Jew, and as such, the career officer was to be expelled from the Wehrmacht. Two days after the conclusion of the Berlin Olympics, vice-commander Fürstner had been removed from active Wehrmacht duty, and committed suicide a day later because he realised he had no future under the Nazis. The site remains relatively unknown even in Germany, but some tournaments are held at the site to boost knowledge of the venues. File:Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-P019183, Berlin, Olympisches Dorf.jpg|The Olympic village File:Olympic Village house of Jesse Owens.jpg|US track team house at the Olympic village, 2015 File:Jesse Owen's Room in Berlin 1936 Olympic Village.jpg|Jesse Owens' room at the Olympic village, 2015 File:Hindenburg_D-LZ129_léghajó_a_Berlini_Olimpia_idején._Fortepan_17447.jpg|LZ 129 Hindenburg flying over the village, with the Olympics logo painted on its underside hull ==Venues==

Twenty-two venues were used for the 1936 Summer Olympics. Many were located in the Reich Sportsfeld complex. Sailing was held in the Bay of Kiel, which would serve as the same sporting venue for the 1972 Summer Olympics held in Munich. The Olympic Stadium would later be part of two FIFA World Cups and then host an IAAF World Championships in Athletics along with undergoing a renovation in the early 2000s to give new life to the stadium. Avus Motor Road (AVUS) was started in 1907, but was not completed until 1921 due to World War I. The track was rebuilt for the 1936 Games. The Reich Sports Field, which consisted of the Olympic Stadium, the Dietrich Eckert Open-Air Theatre, the Olympic Swimming Stadium, Mayfield, the Hockey Stadiums, the Tennis Courts, and the Haus des Deutschen Sports, was planned for the aborted 1916 Summer Olympics, but was not completed until 1934. Mayfield was the last venue completed prior to the 1936 Games in April 1936. Mommenstadion opened in 1930. Basketball was held outdoors at the request of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA). The tennis courts were used, which turned to mud during heavy rain at the final. During World War II, Deutschlandhalle in Berlin, suffered heavy aerial bombing damage. The British reopened the Stadium in 1946 and parts of the stadium were rebuilt by the late 1950s. As a host venue for the 1974 FIFA World Cup, the stadium had its roof partially covered on the North and South Stands. British occupation of the stadium ended in 1994. Restoration was approved in 1998 with a contractor being found to do the work in 2000. This restoration ran from 2000 to 2004. The modernized Stadium reopened in 2004, with a capacity of 74,228 people. The seating has been changed greatly, especially the sections that were reserved for German and international political leaders. The stadium now plays host to Hertha BSC (1963–present), and is expected to remain the home of the team for years to come. For the 2006 FIFA World Cup, the venue was where the final took place between Italy and France. Three years later, the venue hosted the World Athletics Championships. ==Games==

Opening ceremony The opening ceremony was held at the Berlin Olympic Stadium on 1 August 1936. A flyover by the German airship Hindenburg flying the Olympic flag behind it was featured early in the opening ceremonies. After the arrival of Hitler and his entourage, the parade of nations proceeded, each nation with its own unique costume. As the birthplace of the Olympics, Greece entered the stadium first. The host nation, Germany, entered last. Some nations' athletes purposefully gave the Nazi salute as they passed Hitler. Others gave the Olympic salute (a similar one, given with the same arm), or a different gesture entirely, such as hats-over-hearts, as the United States, India, and China did. All nations lowered their flags as they passed the Führer, save the United States, the United Kingdom, Switzerland and the Commonwealth of the Philippines. (The United States doing this was explained later as an army regulation, and the country traditionally avoids dipping its flag at the Olympics. and Henri de Baillet-Latour enter the Olympic Stadium After a speech by the president of the German Olympic Committee, the games were officially declared open by Adolf Hitler who quoted (in German): "I proclaim open the Olympic Games of Berlin, celebrating the Eleventh Olympiad of the modern era." Hitler opened the games from his own box, on top of others. Writer David Wallechinsky has commented on the event, saying, "This was his event, he wanted to be glorified." U.S. distance runner Louis Zamperini, one of the athletes present, related a particular moment during the opening ceremony on camera: Art competitions for medals were also held, and medals were awarded at the closing ceremony for feats of alpinism and aeronautics. Unofficial exhibition events included Indian sports, wushu and motor racing. Notable achievements Germany had a successful year in the equestrian events, winning individual and team gold in all three disciplines, as well as individual silver in dressage. In the cycling match sprint finals, German Toni Merkens fouled Arie van Vliet of the Netherlands. Instead of being disqualified, he was fined 100 ℛℳ and kept his gold. German gymnasts Konrad Frey and Alfred Schwarzmann both won three gold medals. American Jesse Owens won four gold medals in the sprint and long jump events. His German competitor Luz Long offered Owens advice after he almost failed to qualify in the long jump. Mack Robinson, brother of Jackie Robinson, won the 200-meter sprint silver medal behind Owens by 0.4 seconds. Although he did not win a medal, future American war hero Louis Zamperini, lagging behind in the 5,000-meter final, made up ground by clocking a 56-second final lap. In one of the most dramatic 800-meter races in history, American John Woodruff won gold after slowing to jogging speed in the middle of the final to free himself from being boxed in. Glenn Edgar Morris, a farm boy from Colorado, won gold in the decathlon. British rower Jack Beresford won his fifth Olympic medal in the sport, and his third gold medal. The U.S. eight-man rowing team from the University of Washington won the gold medal, coming from behind to defeat the Germans and Italians with Hitler in attendance. 13-year-old American sensation Marjorie Gestring won the women's 3 meter diving event. {{multiple image |direction=vertical |width=220 |align=left Jack Lovelock of New Zealand won the 1500 m gold medal, coming through a strong field to win in the world record time of 3:47.8. In the marathon, the ethnic Koreans Sohn Kee-chung and Nam Sung-yong won one gold and one bronze medal; as Korea was annexed by Japan at the time, they were running for Japan. India won the gold medal in the field hockey event once again (they won the gold in all Olympics from 1928 to 1956), defeating Germany 8–1 in the final. Indians were considered Indo-Aryans by the German authorities and there was no controversy regarding the victory. Rie Mastenbroek of the Netherlands won three gold medals and a silver in swimming. Estonian heavyweight wrestler Kristjan Palusalu won two gold medals, and he became the first and only wrestler in Olympic history ever to win both the Greco-Roman and freestyle heavyweight events. Berlin 1936 marked the last time Estonia competed as an independent nation in the Olympics until 1992. After winning the middleweight class, the Egyptian weightlifter Khadr El Touni continued to compete for another 45 minutes, finally exceeding the total of the German silver medalist by 35 kg. The 20-year-old El Touni lifted a total of 387.5 kg, crushing two German world champions and breaking the then-Olympic and world records, while the German lifted 352.5 kg. Furthermore, El Touni had lifted 15 kg more than the light-heavyweight gold medalist, a feat only El Touni has accomplished. El Touni's new world records stood for 13 years. Fascinated by El Touni's performance, Adolf Hitler rushed down to greet this human miracle. Prior to the competition, Hitler was said to have been sure that Rudolf Ismayr and Adolf Wagner would embarrass all other opponents. Hitler was so impressed by El Touni's domination in the middleweight class that he ordered a street named after him in Berlin's Olympic village. The Egyptian held the No. 1 position on the IWF list of history's 50 greatest weightlifters for 60 years, until the 1996 Games in Atlanta where Turkey's Naim Süleymanoğlu surpassed him to top the list. Italy's football team continued their dominance under head coach Vittorio Pozzo, winning the gold medal in these Olympics between their two consecutive World Cup victories (1934 and 1938). Much like the successes of German athletes, this triumph was claimed by supporters of Benito Mussolini's regime as a vindication of the superiority of the fascist system. Austria won the silver; a controversial win after Hitler called for a rematch of the quarterfinals match to discount Peru's 4–2 win over Austria. The Peruvian national Olympic team refused to play the match again and withdrew from the games. In the quarter-finals of the football tournament, Peru beat Austria 4–2 in extra-time. Peru had rallied from a two-goal deficit in the final 15 minutes of normal time. During extra-time, Peruvian fans allegedly ran onto the field and attacked an Austrian player. In the chaos, Peru scored twice and won, 4–2. However, Austria protested and the International Olympic Committee ordered a replay without any spectators. The Peruvian government refused and their entire Olympic squad left in protest as did Colombia. A remarkable story from the track and field competition was the gold medal won by the US women's 4 × 100 m relay team. The German team were the heavy favourites, but dropped the baton at one hand-off. Of notable interest on the US team was Betty Robinson. She was the first woman ever awarded an Olympic gold medal for track and field, winning the women's 100 m event at the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam. Due to the length of her recovery, she had to miss participating in the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, in her home country. ==Participating nations==

A total of 49 nations attended the Berlin Olympics, up from 37 in 1932. Five nations made their first official Olympic appearance at these Games: Afghanistan, Bermuda, Bolivia, Costa Rica and Liechtenstein. File:1936 Summer Olympic games countries.png|Nations participating for the first time shown in blue File:1936 Summer Olympics numbers.png|Number of attending athletes from respective participating countries The nations that returned to the games were Bulgaria, Chile, Egypt, Iceland, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Peru, Romania and Turkey. The nations that participated in the previous games in Los Angeles in 1932 but were absent in Berlin in 1936 were Ireland and Spain. At the time, Australia and New Zealand were dominions of the British Empire. Both nations had not yet ratified the Statute of Westminster 1931. India and Bermuda were also part of the British Empire, but were not dominions. And Philippines was an unincorporated territory and commonwealth of the United States. • , also took part in the Opening Ceremony, but its only athlete (a weightlifter) did not compete. Number of athletes by National Olympic Committee ==Medal count==

, 3000 m steeplechase gold medalist, 1936 Summer Olympics The twelve nations that won the most medals at the 1936 Games. ==Political aspects==

Hitler saw the Games as an opportunity to promote his government and ideals of Aryan racial supremacy. The official Nazi party paper, the Völkischer Beobachter, wrote in the strongest terms that Jewish and black people should not be allowed to participate in the Games. In an attempt to "clean up" the host city, The 'Jews Not Welcome' signs were removed for the duration of the Olympics. French Olympians gave a Roman salute at the opening ceremony: known as the salut de Joinville per the battalion, Bataillon de Joinville, the Olympic salute was part of the Olympic traditions since the 1924 games. However, due to the different context this action was mistaken by the crowd for a support to fascism, and the Olympic salute was discarded after 1946. Although Haiti attended only the opening ceremony, an interesting vexillological fact was noticed: its flag and the flag of Liechtenstein were coincidentally identical, and this was not discovered until then. The following year, a crown was added to Liechtenstein's to distinguish one flag from the other. Marty Glickman and Sam Stoller were originally slated to compete in the American 4x100 relay team but were replaced by Jesse Owens and Ralph Metcalfe prior to the start of the race. There were speculations that their Jewish heritage contributed to the decision "not to embarrass the German hosts"; however, given that African-Americans were also heavily disliked by the Nazis, Glickman and Stoller's replacement with black American athletes does not support this theory. Others said that they were in a better physical condition, and that was the main reason behind the replacement. Domestic antisemitism The German Olympic Committee, in accordance with Nazi directives, virtually barred Germans who were Jewish or Roma or had such an ancestry from participating in the Games (Helene Mayer, who had one Jewish parent, was the only German Jew to compete at the Berlin Games). This decision meant exclusion for many of the country's top athletes such as shotputter and discus thrower Lilli Henoch, who was a four-time world record holder and 10-time German national champion, and Gretel Bergmann who was suspended from the German team just days after she set a record of 1.60 meters in the high jump. Daniel Prenn, Erich Seelig and Johann Trollmann were also excluded. Exiled German political opponents of Hitler's regime also campaigned against the Berlin Olympics through pro-Communist newspapers such as the Arbeiter-Illustrierte-Zeitung. The protests were ultimately unsuccessful; forty-nine teams from around the world participated in the 1936 Games, the largest number of participating nations of any Olympics to that point. He said: "I cannot participate in anything sponsored by Adolf Hitler, even for France." South Africa Individual Jewish athletes from several countries chose to boycott the Berlin Olympics, including South African Sid Kiel. Spain The Spanish government led by the newly elected left-wing Popular Front boycotted the Games and the Government of Catalonia organized the People's Olympiad as a parallel event in Barcelona. Some 6,000 athletes from 49 countries registered. However, the People's Olympiad was aborted because of the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War just one day before the event was due to start. The Soviet Union started competing in the Olympics in 1952, when Joseph Stalin realized that they could use the event to fulfil their political and ideological agenda. Turkey Halet Çambel and Suat Fetgeri Așani, the first Turkish and Muslim women athletes to participate in the Olympics (fencing), refused an offer by their guide to be formally introduced to Adolf Hitler, saying they would not shake hands with him due to his approach to Jews, as stated by Çambel in a newspaper interview in 2000. United States and IOC German Secretary Theodor Lewald in 1936 Traditionally, the United States sent one of the largest teams to the Olympics, and there was a considerable debate over whether the nation should participate in the 1936 Games. On the subject of Jewish discrimination, he stated, "The very foundation of the modern Olympic revival will be undermined if individual countries are allowed to restrict participation by reason of class, creed, or race." Unlike Brundage, Mahoney supported a boycott of the Games. Mahoney, the president of the Amateur Athletic Union, led newspaper editors and anti-Nazi groups to protest against American participation in the Berlin Olympics. He contested that racial discrimination was a violation of Olympic rules and that participation in the Games was tantamount to support for the Third Reich. Most African-American newspapers supported participation in the Olympics. The Philadelphia Tribune and the Chicago Defender both agreed that black victories would undermine Nazi views of Aryan supremacy and spark renewed African-American pride. American Jewish organizations, meanwhile, largely opposed the Olympics. The American Jewish Congress and the Jewish Labor Committee staged rallies and supported the boycott of German goods to show their disdain for American participation. Eventually, Brundage won the debate, convincing the Amateur Athletic Union to close a vote in favor of sending an American team to the Berlin Olympics. Mahoney's efforts to incite a boycott of the Olympic games in the United States failed, although some athletes like Harvard University track star Milton Green chose to sit at home. After the Olympics, Jewish participation in German sports was further limited, and persecution of Jews started to become ever more lethal. The Olympic Games provided a nine-month period of relative calmness. At least two Polish Jewish Olympians (Roman Kantor and Ilia Szrajbman) who attended the 1936 Games later died in Majdanek concentration camp as part of the Holocaust. ==Gallery==

File:Olympic Fire in Berlin 1936.jpg|The Olympic Fire in Berlin File:Unter den Linden, jobbra a Staatsbibliothek, háttérben a Brandenburgi kapu. Fortepan 17439.jpg|Displaying German symbols and Nazi swastika File:Olimpiai Stadion, a női magasugrás eredményhirdetése (1. Csák Ibolya, Magyarország). Fortepan 17417.jpg|Spectators giving the Nazi salute during one of the medal ceremonies as the medalists' flags fly above File:Olympic bell Berlin.JPG|Olympic Bell File:Tableau Résultats JO 1936-1.JPG|Results Table 1 File:Tableau Résultats JO 1936-2.JPG|Results Table 2 ==See also==