Athletics at the 1936 Summer Olympics – Men's 800 metres explained

Event:Men's 800 metres
Games:1936 Summer
Venue:Olympiastadion

Berlin, Germany

Dates:August 2 (heats)
August 3 (semifinals)
August 4 (final)
Competitors:42
Nations:23
Win Value:1:52.9
Longnames:yes
Gold:John Woodruff
Goldnoc:USA
Silver:Mario Lanzi
Silvernoc:ITA
Bronze:Phil Edwards
Bronzenoc:CAN
Prev:1932
Next:1948

The men's 800 metres event at the 1936 Summer Olympic Games took place between August 2 and August 4. Forty-two athletes from 23 nations competed. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The final was won by American John Woodruff.[1]

Woodruff's win broke a streak of four British victories in the 800 metres and started a streak of four American victories. (Great Britain missed the podium entirely.) It was the United States' first title in the event since 1912, and fourth overall. Mario Lanzi's silver was Italy's second medal in the event, after another silver in 1908. Phil Edwards repeated his bronze performance from 1932, becoming the third man to win a second medal in the 800 metres.

Summary

With all runners starting from a crouch position, in the middle of the straightaway, the only returning medalist from 1932, Phil Edwards, rushed to the lead. Down the backstretch he was joined by John Woodruff, who was among the favorites to win the race despite his inexperience. For the second day in a row, the German home crowd was seeing two black North Americans leading a final after Jesse Owens and Ralph Metcalfe winning the 100 metres. Along the home stretch, Kazimierz Kucharski came along the outside, with Brian MacCabe in tow, effectively boxing Woodruff on the rail. Sensing the danger, Woodruff slowed, dropping to sixth place but giving himself free running room. With a long relaxed stride, the tall Woodruff ran around the outside and past Edwards into the lead. Heading into the final turn, Edwards again accelerated into the lead, but Woodruff stayed with him as both separated from Kucharski and Chuck Hornbostel. With the trailers struggling, a path down the rail opened up for Mario Lanzi to run past them on the inside. Through the turn, Edwards was unable to break Woodruff. Coming off the turn, it was Woodruff's long stride that took the advantage over the smaller Edwards. Now it was Edwards who was struggling as Woodruff pulled away with only half the straightaway to the finish. Lanzi seized the opportunity to run past Edwards on the outside, but there was no time to run after Woodruff.

Background

This was the 10th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Three finalists from 1932 returned: bronze medalist Phil Edwards of Canada (who was also the fourth-place finisher in 1928), sixth-place finisher Chuck Hornbostel of the United States, and seventh-place finisher Jack Powell of Great Britain. Along with Edwards, Rudolf Harbig of Germany and John Woodruff of the United States were the favorites.[2]

Peru and Yugoslavia appeared in the event for the first time. Great Britain and the United States each made their ninth appearance, tied for the most among all nations.

Competition format

There were again enough competitors to return to the three-round format introduced in 1912 (after a two-round version in 1932). There were six first-round heats, each with between 6 and 8 athletes; the top four runners in each heat advanced to the semifinals. There were three semifinals with 8 athletes each; the top three runners in each semifinal advanced to the nine-man final.[2] [3]

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in minutes) prior to the 1936 Summer Olympics.

No world or Olympic records were set during the competition.

Schedule

DateTimeRound
Sunday, 2 August 1936 16:00 Round 1
Monday, 3 August 1936 17:15 Semifinals
Tuesday, 4 August 1936 17:45 Final

Results

Round 1

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

Heat 1

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 1:53.7
2 Chuck Hornbostel1:53.7
3Jean Verhaert1:54.3
4Ferenc Temesvári1:55.0
5Pierre Hemmer1:56.3
6Rudolf Harbig1:56.8
7Francisco Váldezdata-sort-value=2:00.0Unknown
8Stavros Velkopoulosdata-sort-value=3:00.0Unknown
data-sort-value=9Erik Wennberg

Heat 2

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 1:56.2
2 Ab Conway1:56.2
3Pat Boot1:56.6
4Emil Hübscher1:57.3
5Emil Goršek1:59.5
6Carlos Marcenaro2:00.8
data-sort-value=7 rowspan=3Abu Al-Yazid El-Halawani
Ossi Teileri

Heat 3

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 1:54.5
2 Raymond Petit1:54.8
3Hjalmar Johannessen1:54.9
4Ewald Mertens1:55.1
5Clarke Scholtz1:57.6
6Toshinao Tomie1:59.9
7Stanislav Otáhaldata-sort-value=2:00.0Unknown
8Gyan Bhalladata-sort-value=3:00.0Unknown
data-sort-value=9Fritz Sollberger

Heat 4

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 1:57.7
2 Miklós Szabó1:57.8
3John Woodruff1:58.7
4Frank Handley1:58.9
5Evžen Rošický1:59.5
6Paul Martin2:00.0
7Charles Steindata-sort-value=3:00.0Unknown
data-sort-value=8 rowspan=2

Heat 5

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 1:56.0
2 Mario Lanzi1:56.1
3Franz Eichberger1:56.3
4József Vadas1:56.5
5Willie Botha1:57.0
6Grigorios Georgakopoulos1:57.3
7Jack Liddledata-sort-value=2:00.0Unknown
data-sort-value=8 rowspan=2
Luis Pratsmasó

Heat 6

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 1:55.1
2 Kazimierz Kucharski1:55.7
3Wolfgang Dessecker1:56.0
4René Soulier1:56.1
5William Lindeque1:56.4
6Kumao Aochi1:56.8
data-sort-value=7 rowspan=3Jia Lianren
Karlo Nikhazi
Enrique Piferrer

Semifinals

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

Semifinal 1

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 1:52.7
2 Kazimierz Kucharski1:54.7
3Juan Carlos Anderson1:54.8
4Miklós Szabó1:55.1
5Wolfgang Dessecker1:55.3
6Franz Eichberger1:56.2
7Pat Bootdata-sort-value=2:00.0Unknown
8Frank Handleydata-sort-value=3:00.0Unknown

Semifinal 2

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 1:53.1
2 Gerald Backhouse1:53.2
3Phil Edwards1:53.2
4Jack Powell1:54.8
5Ewald Mertens1:54.9
6René Soulier1:56.8
7Emil Hübscherdata-sort-value=2:00.0Unknown
8József Vadasdata-sort-value=3:00.0Unknown

Semifinal 3

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 1:53.2
2 Mario Lanzi1:54.1
3Brian MacCabe1:55.4
4Raymond Petit1:55.7
5Ab Conway1:55.9
6Hjalmar Johannessen1:56.0
7Ferenc Temesváridata-sort-value=2:00.0Unknown
8Jean Verhaertdata-sort-value=3:00.0Unknown

Final

Rank Athlete Nation Time
1:52.9
1:53.3
1:53.6
4 1:53.8
5 1:54.6
6 1:55.8
7 data-sort-value=2:00.0Unknown
8 data-sort-value=3:00.0Unknown
9 data-sort-value=4:00.0Unknown

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Athletics at the 1936 Berlin Summer Games: Men's 800 metres . https://web.archive.org/web/20200417171029/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1936/ATH/mens-800-metres.html . dead . 17 April 2020 . 12 October 2017 . sports-reference.com.
  2. Web site: 800 metres, Men . Olympedia . 6 August 2020.
  3. Official Report, pp. 627–29.