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 0.1 seconds 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 (Owens had come in third to Peacock and Metcalfe at the 1935 AAU meet).

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 (in seconds) prior to the 1932 Summer Olympics.

World record 10.2 Jesse Owens Chicago, USA June 20, 1936 Olympic Record 10.3 Eddie Tolan Los Angeles, USA August 1, 1932 10.3 Ralph Metcalfe Los Angeles, USA August 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 1

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Lennart Strandberg 10.7 2 Takayoshi Yoshioka 10.8 3 Manfred Kersch 10.8 4Maurice Carlton 5Aristidis Sakellariou

Heat 2

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Chris Berger 10.8 2 Pat Dannaher 11.0 3 Bernard Marchand 11.2 4Antonio Sande 11.2 5Julije Bauer 11.5

Heat 3

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Wil van Beveren 10.8 2 Eric Grimbeek 10.9 3 Ruudi Toomsalu 11.0 4Antonio Salcedo 5José Domingo Sánchez 6Mohammad Khan

Heat 4

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Gyula Gyenes 10.7 2 Monta Suzuki 10.7 3 Palle Virtanen 10.9 4Paul Bronner 11.1 5Antonio Cuba 6Elias Gutiérrez

Heat 5

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Howard McPhee 10.8 2 Lennart Lindgren 10.8 3 Robert Paul 11.0 4George Fahoum 5Poh Kimseng

Heat 6

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Marthinus Theunissen 10.7 2 Gerd Hornberger 10.7 3 Tomás Beswick 10.9 4Toivo Sariola 5Sveinn Ingvarsson 6Oskar Ospelt

Heat 7

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Ralph Metcalfe 10.8 2 József Sir 10.8 3 Nemesio de Guzman 11.1 4Fritz Seeger

Heat 8

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Erich Borchmeyer 10.7 2 Bruce Humber 10.8 3 Gábor Gerő 11.3 4Chen Kingkwan 5Alfred Bencini

Heat 9

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Frank Wykoff 10.6 2 Arthur Sweeney 10.7 3 Antonio Fondevilla 11.0 4Toivo Ahjopalo 5Oswaldo Domingues 6Xaver Frick

Heat 10

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Tinus Osendarp 10.5 2 Alan Pennington 10.6 3 Lee Orr 10.6 4Robert Struckl 5Eric Whiteside

Heat 11

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Paul Hänni 10.7 2 Cyril Holmes 10.8 3 Renos Frangoudis 10.8 4François Mersch 10.9 5Liu Changchun

Heat 12 Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Jesse Owens 10.3 , 2 Kichizo Sasaki 11.0 3 José de Almeida 11.1 4Dieudonné Devrindt 5Austin Cassar-Torreggiani

Quarterfinals

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

Quarterfinal 1

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Lennart Strandberg 10.5 2 Tinus Osendarp 10.6 3 Frank Wykoff 10.6 4Gerd Hornberger 10.7 5Gyula Gyenes 6Cyril Holmes

Quarterfinal 2

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.

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Jesse Owens 10.2 2 Paul Hänni 10.6 3 József Sir 10.7 4Takayoshi Yoshioka 10.8 5Eric Grimbeek 10.9 6Lennart Lindgren 11.0

Quarterfinal 3

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Ralph Metcalfe 10.5 2 Alan Pennington 10.6 3 Wil van Beveren 10.7 4Marthinus Theunissen 5Bruce Humber 6Kichizo Sasaki

Quarterfinal 4

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Erich Borchmeyer 10.5 2 Arthur Sweeney 10.6 3 Howard McPhee 10.6 4Monta Suzuki 10.8 5Chris Berger 11.0 6Pat Dannaher

Semifinals

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

Semifinal 1

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Jesse Owens 10.4 2 Frank Wykoff 10.5 3 Lennart Strandberg 10.5 4Paul Hänni 10.7 5Wil van Beveren 10.8 6Alan Pennington

Semifinal 2

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Ralph Metcalfe 10.5 2 Tinus Osendarp 10.6 3 Erich Borchmeyer 10.7 4Howard McPhee 10.7 5Arthur Sweeney 10.7 6József Sir 10.9

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.Official Report, vol. 1, p. 604.

Rank Athlete Nation Time Jesse Owens 10.3 Ralph Metcalfe 10.4 Tinus Osendarp 10.5 4 Frank Wykoff 10.6 5 Erich Borchmeyer 10.7 6 Lennart Strandberg 10.9

References