Berlin 1936  

Jesse Owens

The Berlin Games are best remembered for Adolf Hitler’s failed attempt to use them to prove his theories of Aryan racial superiority. As it turned out, the most popular hero of the Games was the African-American sprinter and long jumper Jesse Owens, who won four gold medals in the 100m, 200m, 4x100m relay and long jump.

Television coverage

The 1936 Games were the first to be broadcast on television. Twenty-five television viewing rooms were set up in the Greater Berlin area, allowing the locals to follow the Games free of charge.

Young Olympians

Thirteen-year-old Marjorie Gestring of the US won the gold medal in springboard diving. She remains the youngest female gold medallist in the history of the Summer Olympic Games. Twelve-year-old Inge Sorensen of Denmark earned a bronze medal in the 200m breaststroke, making her the youngest medallist ever in an individual event.

Debuts and firsts

Basketball, canoeing and field handball all made their first appearances. The Berlin Games also became the first to introduce the torch relay, in which a lighted torch is carried from Olympia in Greece to the site of the current Games.

NOCs 49
Athletes 3,963 (331 women, 3,632 men)
Events 129
Volunteers n/a
Media n/a

• Artistic Gymnastics
• Athletics
• Basketball
• Boxing
• Canoe / Kayak Flatwater
• Cycling Road
• Cycling Track
• Diving
• Equestrian / Dressage
• Equestrian / Eventing
• Equestrian / Jumping
• Fencing
• Football
• Handball
• Hockey
• Modern Pentathlon
• Polo
• Rowing
• Sailing
• Shooting
• Swimming
• Water polo
• Weightlifting
• Wrestling Freestyle
• Wrestling Greco-Roman

The symbol of fire

These Games saw the introduction of the torch relay based on an idea by Dr Carl Diem. A lit torch was carried from Olympia to the site of the Games through seven countries- Greece, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Austria and Germany: a total journey of more than 3,000 km.

Television coverage

The 1936 Games were also the first to be broadcast on television. Twenty-five television viewing rooms were set up in the Greater Berlin area, allowing the locals to follow the Games free of charge.

Leni Riefenstahl's official film

"Olympia” is a film that is radically different from all those made about sport before it. The director chose to highlight the aesthetics of the body by filming it from every angle. This film brought about new perspectives in cinematography and still remains without equal.

The prizes

Apart from medals, the athletes received a winner's crown and an oak tree in a pot.

New on the programme

For the first time, the programme included men's handball and basketball tournaments.

Crowd

More than four million tickets sold.

Twelve years from Berlin to London

As with World War I, the outbreak of hostilities, first in Japan and China and then in Europe, would make it impossible for the Games of the XII and XIII Olympiads to be held in 1940 and 1944 respectively. In fact, it would be 12 years before the Olympic flame would once again burn in an Olympic stadium, in London, in 1948.

Ceremonies

Berlin 1936. Arrival of the Olympic Flame at the Olympic Stadium.

Official opening of the Games by: Chancellor Adolf Hitler

Lighting the Olympic Flame by: Fritz Schilgen (athletics)

Olympic Oath by: Rudolf Ismayr (weightlifting)

Official Oath by: The officials' oath at an Olympic Summer Games was first sworn in 1972 in Munich.