Athletics at the 1932 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metres


The men's 100 metres sprint event at the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California, United States, were held at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on July 31 and August 1. Thirty-three runners from 17 nations competed. The 1930 Olympic Congress in Berlin had reduced the limit from 4 athletes per NOC to 3 athletes.
The photo finish final was won by American Eddie Tolan in a world record equalling time of 10.38 seconds. Teammate Ralph Metcalfe won the silver and was credited with the same time as Tolan. It was the first American victory since 1920, after the United States was kept off the podium entirely in 1928. Germany won its second consecutive bronze medal in the event. Defending Olympic champion and world record holder Percy Williams of Canada did not advance past the semifinals. Takayoshi Yoshioka was the first Asian to make the final.

Background

This was the ninth time the event was held, having appeared at every Olympics since the first in 1896. Notable entrants included Canada's Percy Williams, the defending gold medalist and world record holder, and American Ralph Metcalfe, NCAA champion and U.S. Olympic trial winner.
Two electrical timing devices, one hand-operated and one camera-based, were introduced to "double check" the stop watches.
China was represented in the event for the first time. The United States was the only nation to have appeared at each of the first nine Olympic men's 100 metres events.

Competition format

The event retained the four round format from 1920–1928: heats, quarterfinals, semifinals, and a final. There were 7 heats, of 4–6 athletes each, with the top 3 in each heat advancing to the quarterfinals. The 21 quarterfinalists were placed into 4 heats of 4 or 5 athletes. Again, the top 3 advanced. There were 2 heats of 6 semifinalists, once again with the top 3 advancing to the 6-man final.

Records

These are the standing world and Olympic records prior to the 1932 Summer Olympics.
World Record10.3 Percy WilliamsToronto August 9, 1930
Olympic Record10.6 Donald LippincottStockholm July 6, 1912
Olympic Record10.6 Charlie PaddockAntwerp August 16, 1920
Olympic Record10.6 Harold AbrahamsParis July 6/7 1924
Olympic Record10.6 Robert McAllisterAmsterdam July 29/30 1928
Olympic Record10.6 Percy WilliamsAmsterdam July 30, 1928
Olympic Record10.6 Wilfred LeggAmsterdam July 30, 1928

Arthur Jonath equalled the standing Olympic record with 10.6 in the third heat of the first round. Eddie Tolan set a new Olympic record with 10.4 in the first heat of the quarterfinals, and equalled the world record of 10.3 in the final along with Ralph Metcalfe.

Results

Heats

Heat one

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Eddie Tolan10.9
2José de Almeida11.0
3Fernando Ortíz11.2
4André Théard11.4
5António Rodrigues11.5
–Fred Reid

Heat two

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1George Simpson10.9
2Ernie Page11.1
3Andrej Engel11.2
4Bunoo Sutton11.4
5Liu Changchun China11.5

Heat three

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Arthur Jonath10.6,
2Allan Elliot10.8
3Izuo Anno10.9
4Ronald Vernieux11.0
5Samuel Giacosa11.1

Heat four

Heat five

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Ralph Metcalfe11.0
2Bert Pearson11.1
3Angelos Lambrou11.3
4Fernando Ramírez11.4

Heat six

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Danie Joubert11.0
2Harold Wright11.2
3Ernst Geerling11.3
4Ricardo Guimarães11.4

Heat seven

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Takayoshi Yoshioka10.9
2Chris Berger11.1
3Héctor Berra11.2
4Stanley Fuller11.3
5Mario Marques11.5

Quarterfinals

Berra and Lambrou withdrew before the quarterfinals.

Quarterfinal one

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Eddie Tolan10.53,
2Carlos Bianchi10.5
3Percy Williams10.7
4Chris Berger10.7
5Fernando Ortíz11.0

Quarterfinal two

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1George Simpson10.74
2Harold Wright10.9
3Helmut Körnig11.0
4Andrej Engel11.1

Quarterfinal three

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Ralph Metcalfe10.77
2Takayoshi Yoshioka10.8
3Allan Elliot10.9
4Ernie Page10.9
5Ernst Geerling11.1

Quarterfinal four

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Arthur Jonath10.68
2Danie Joubert10.6
3Bert Pearson10.7
4José de Almeida10.8
5Izuo Anno10.9

Semifinals

Semifinal one

The finish was close enough that the timing showed errors. Film of the race "clearly shows that Yoshioka won, with Joubert second, and Tolan third" but Tolan was declared the winner at 10.81 seconds, Joubert second also at 10.81 seconds, and Yoshioka third at 10.83 seconds. Because all three advanced to the final anyway, the discrepancy did not matter.
RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Eddie Tolan10.81
2Danie Joubert10.81
3Takayoshi Yoshioka10.83
4Percy Williams10.91
5Allan Elliot11.0
6Helmut Körnig11.2

Semifinal two

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Ralph Metcalfe10.65
2George Simpson10.70
3Arthur Jonath10.71
4Carlos Bianchi10.73
5Bert Pearson10.95
6Harold Wright11.1

Final

Under the rules in force at the time, runners were judged to have finished the race when they had crossed the line; in 1933, this was changed so that runners finished the race when they reached the line.
The final was close enough that had this rule been in force at the Games, Metcalfe would have been the winner: Melcalfe reached the finish line first, but Tolan, who was shorter, crossed the line first.
RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
Eddie Tolan10.38
Ralph Metcalfe10.38
Arthur Jonath10.50
4George Simpson10.53
5Danie Joubert10.60
6Takayoshi Yoshioka10.79