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

Event:	Men's 100 metres
Games:	1932 Summer
Venue:	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Dates:	July 31, 1932 (heats, quarterfinals) August 1, 1932 (semifinals, final)
Gold:	Eddie Tolan
Goldnoc:	USA
Silver:	Ralph Metcalfe
Silvernoc:	USA
Bronze:	Arthur Jonath
Bronzenoc:	GER
Competitors:	33
Nations:	17
Win Value:	10.3 seconds
Prev:	1928
Next:	1936

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.^[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.^[2]

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.^[3] 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.^[4]

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.^[4]

Two electrical timing devices, one hand-operated and one camera-based, were introduced to "double check" the stop watches.^[5] ^[6]

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 (19 after two withdrawals) 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.^[4]

Records

These are the standing world and Olympic records (in seconds) prior to the 1932 Summer Olympics.

World Record	10.3	Percy Williams	Toronto (CAN)	August 9, 1930
Olympic Record	10.6	Donald Lippincott	Stockholm (SWE)	July 6, 1912
	10.6	Charlie Paddock	Antwerp (BEL)	August 16, 1920
	10.6	Harold Abrahams	Paris (FRA)	July 6/7 1924
	10.6	Robert McAllister	Amsterdam (NED)	July 29/30 1928
	10.6	Percy Williams	Amsterdam (NED)	July 30, 1928
	10.6	Wilfred Legg	Amsterdam (NED)	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 in the final, Tolan and Ralph Metcalfe equalled the world record of 10.3.

Results

Heats

Heat 1

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time
1			10.9
2	José de Almeida		11.0
3	Fernando Ortíz		11.2
4	André Théard		11.4
5	António Rodrigues		11.5
data-sort-value=6	–	Fred Reid

Heat 2

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	George Simpson		10.9	Q
2	Ernie Page		11.1	Q
3	Andrej Engel		11.2	Q
4	Bunoo Sutton		11.4
5	Liu Changchun	China	11.5

Heat 3

Rank	Athlete	Time	Notes
1	Arthur Jonath	10.6	,
2	Allan Elliot	10.8
3	Izuo Anno	10.9
4	Ronald Vernieux	11.0
5	Samuel Giacosa	11.1

Heat 4

Rank	Athlete	Time
1	Carlos Bianchi	10.8
2	Helmut Körnig	11.0
3	Percy Williams	11.1
4	Jesús Moraila	11.2

Heat 5

Rank	Athlete	Time
1	Ralph Metcalfe	11.0
2	Bert Pearson	11.1
3	Angelos Lambrou	11.3
4	Fernando Ramírez	11.4

Heat 6

Rank	Athlete	Time
1	Danie Joubert	11.0
2	Harold Wright	11.2
3	Ernst Geerling	11.3
4	Ricardo Guimarães	11.4

Heat 7

Rank	Athlete	Time
1	Takayoshi Yoshioka	10.9
2	Chris Berger	11.1
3	Héctor Berra	11.2
4	Stanley Fuller	11.3
5	Mario Marques	11.5

Quarterfinals

Berra and Lambrou withdrew before the quarterfinals.

Quarterfinal 1

Rank	Athlete	Time	Notes
1	Eddie Tolan	10.53	,
2	Carlos Bianchi	10.5
3	Percy Williams	10.7
4	Chris Berger	10.7
5	Fernando Ortíz	11.0

Quarterfinal 2

Rank	Athlete	Time
1	George Simpson	10.74
2	Harold Wright	10.9
3	Helmut Körnig	11.0
4	Andrej Engel	11.1

Quarterfinal 3

Rank	Athlete	Time
1	Ralph Metcalfe	10.77
2	Takayoshi Yoshioka	10.8
3	Allan Elliot	10.9
4	Ernie Page	10.9
5	Ernst Geerling	11.1

Quarterfinal 4

Rank	Athlete	Time
1	Arthur Jonath	10.68
2	Danie Joubert	10.6
3	Bert Pearson	10.7
4	José de Almeida	10.8
5	Izuo Anno	10.9

Semifinals

Semifinal 1

The finish was so close that the timing system displayed errors.

Film of the race indicates that Yoshioka won with Joubert second and Tolan third, while officials clocked Tolan at 10.81 seconds, with Joubert also at 10.81 seconds, and Yoshioka at 10.83 seconds.

However, this discrepancy was a moot point, as all three men advanced to the final in any event.^[4]

Rank	Athlete	Time
1		10.81
2	Danie Joubert	10.81
3	Takayoshi Yoshioka	10.83
4	Percy Williams	10.91
5	Allan Elliot	11.0
6	Helmut Körnig	11.2

Semifinal 2

Rank	Athlete	Time
1		10.65
2	George Simpson	10.70
3	Arthur Jonath	10.71
4	Carlos Bianchi	10.73
5	Bert Pearson	10.95
6	Harold Wright	11.1

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,^[7] crossed the line first.^[8] ^[9]

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
			10.38
			10.38
			10.50
4			10.53
5			10.60
6			10.79

External links

https://web.archive.org/web/20121008101236/http://www.omegawatches.com/spirit/sports/olympic-timekeeping/los-angeles-1932, from http://www.omegawatches.com/; retrieved 2012-10-01.

Notes and References

Web site: Athletics at the 1932 Los Angeles Summer Games: Men's 100 metres . https://web.archive.org/web/20200417093929/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1932/ATH/mens-100-metres.html . dead . 17 April 2020 . 4 June 2017 . Sports Reference.
Official Report, p. 377.
News: Tolan wins by two inches in Olympic 100 meters . Pittsburgh Post-Gazette . Associated Press . August 2, 1932 . 1.
Web site: 100 metres, Men . Olympedia . 21 July 2020.
Official Report, p. 380.
Official Report, pp. 384–85.
News: Friends and rivals . Milwaukee Journal . World Wide photo . August 3, 1932 . 3, part 2 .
News: Olympic blunder . Milwaukee Journal . Wolf . Bob . July 26, 1984 . 3, part 3 .
News: Tolan-Metcalfe race greatest in Olympic history, says Rice . Milwaukee Journal . Rice . Grantland Rice . Grantland . . August 2, 1932 . 4, part 2.