Athletics at the 1936 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metres


The men's 100 metres sprint event at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, Germany, were held at Olympiastadion on 2 and 3 August. The final was won by American Jesse Owens, and teammate Ralph Metcalfe repeated as silver medalist. Tinus Osendarp of the Netherlands won that nation's first medal in the men's 100 metres, a bronze.

Background

This was the tenth time the event was held, having appeared at every Olympics since the first in 1896. Two finalists from 1932 returned: silver medalist Ralph Metcalfe and 6th-place finisher Takayoshi Yoshioka. The favorite, however, was Jesse Owens, particularly with compatriot Eulace Peacock injured and unable to make the team.
Afghanistan, Colombia, Liechtenstein, Malta, Peru, and Yugoslavia were represented in the event for the first time. The United States was the only nation to have appeared at each of the first ten Olympic men's 100 metres events.

Competition format

The event retained the four round format from 1920–1932: heats, quarterfinals, semifinals, and a final. There were 12 heats, of 4–6 athletes each, with the top 2 in each heat advancing to the quarterfinals. The 24 quarterfinalists were placed into 4 heats of 6 athletes. The top 3 in each quarterfinal advanced to the semifinals. 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 Record10.2 Jesse OwensChicago, USAJune 20, 1936
Olympic Record10.3 Eddie TolanLos Angeles, USAAugust 1, 1932
Olympic Record10.3 Ralph MetcalfeLos Angeles, USAAugust 1, 1932

Jesse Owens equalled the standing Olympic record with 10.3 seconds in the final heat of the first round. He matched his own world record of 10.2 seconds, set two months earlier, in the quarterfinals but this result was not counted for records purposes due to wind assistance. His final run, also disqualified from record consideration due to wind, again matched the Olympic record of 10.3 seconds.

Results

Heats

The fastest two runners in each of the twelve heats advanced to the quarterfinal round.

Heat one

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Lennart Strandberg10.7
2Takayoshi Yoshioka10.8
3Manfred Kersch10.8
4Maurice Carlton
5Aristidis Sakellariou

Heat two

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Chris Berger10.8
2Pat Dannaher11.0
3Bernard Marchand11.2
4Antonio Sande11.2
5Julije Bauer11.5

Heat three

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Wil van Beveren10.8
2Eric Grimbeek10.9
3Ruudi Toomsalu11.0
4Antonio Salcedo
5José Domingo Sánchez
6Mohammad Khan

Heat four

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Gyula Gyenes10.7
2Monta Suzuki10.7
3Palle Virtanen10.9
4Paul Bronner11.1
5Antonio Cuba
6Elias Gutiérrez

Heat five

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Howard McPhee10.8
2Lennart Lindgren10.8
3Robert Paul11.0
4George Fahoum
5Poh Kimseng

Heat six

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Marthinus Theunissen10.7
2Gerd Hornberger10.7
3Tomás Beswick10.9
4Toivo Sariola
5Sveinn Ingvarsson
6Oskar Ospelt

Heat seven

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Ralph Metcalfe10.8
2József Sir10.8
3Nemesio de Guzman11.1
4Fritz Seeger

Heat eight

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Erich Borchmeyer10.7
2Bruce Humber10.8
3Gábor Gerő11.3
4Chen Kingkwan
5Alfred Bencini

Heat nine

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Frank Wykoff10.6
2Arthur Sweeney10.7
3Antonio Fondevilla11.0
4Toivo Ahjopalo
5Oswaldo Domingues
6Xaver Frick

Heat ten

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Tinus Osendarp10.5
2Alan Pennington10.6
3Lee Orr10.6
4Robert Struckl
5Eric Whiteside

Heat eleven

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Paul Hänni10.7
2Cyril Holmes10.8
3Renos Frangoudis10.8
4François Mersch10.9
5Liu Changchun

Heat twelve

Quarterfinals

The fastest three runners in each of the four heats advanced to the semifinal round.

Quarterfinal one

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Lennart Strandberg10.5
2Tinus Osendarp10.6
3Frank Wykoff10.6
4Gerd Hornberger10.7
5Gyula Gyenes
6Cyril Holmes

Quarterfinal two

The wind assistance in this quarterfinal was too great for Owens's 10.2 seconds to count to match the world record or better the Olympic record.
RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Jesse Owens10.2
2Paul Hänni10.6
3József Sir10.7
4Takayoshi Yoshioka10.8
5Eric Grimbeek10.9
6Lennart Lindgren11.0

Quarterfinal three

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Ralph Metcalfe10.5
2Alan Pennington10.6
3Wil van Beveren10.7
4Marthinus Theunissen
5Bruce Humber
6Kichizo Sasaki

Quarterfinal four

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Erich Borchmeyer10.5
2Arthur Sweeney10.6
3Howard McPhee10.6
4Monta Suzuki10.8
5Chris Berger11.0
6Pat Dannaher

Semifinals

The fastest three runners in each of the two heats advanced to the final round.

Semifinal one

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Jesse Owens10.4
2Frank Wykoff10.5
3Lennart Strandberg10.5
4Paul Hänni10.7
5Wil van Beveren10.8
6Alan Pennington

Semifinal two

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Ralph Metcalfe10.5
2Tinus Osendarp10.6
3Erich Borchmeyer10.7
4Howard McPhee10.7
5Arthur Sweeney10.7
6József Sir10.9

Final

Wind: +2.7 m/s
After 30 metres, Owens "had already decided the race in his favour." Metcalfe broke free for silver at 70 metres. Strandberg strained a ligament at the halfway mark.
RankAthleteNationTime
Jesse Owens10.3
Ralph Metcalfe10.4
Tinus Osendarp10.5
4Frank Wykoff10.6
5Erich Borchmeyer10.7
6Lennart Strandberg10.9