Athletics at the 1936 Summer Olympics – Women's 4 × 100 metres relay explained

Event:	Women's 4 × 100 metres relay
Games:	1936 Summer
Dates:	August 8 (heats), August 9 (final)
Teams:	8
Nations:	8
Win Value:	46.9
Gold:	Harriet Bland Annette Rogers Betty Robinson Helen Stephens
Goldnoc:	USA
Silver:	Eileen Hiscock Violet Olney Audrey Brown Barbara Burke
Silvernoc:	GBR
Bronze:	Dorothy Brookshaw Mildred Dolson Hilda Cameron Aileen Meagher
Bronzenoc:	CAN
Prev:	1932
Next:	1948

The women's 4 × 100 metres relay event at the 1936 Olympic Games took place on August 8 and August 9.^[1] The American team won with a time of 46.9 s after the German team, which had been in the lead, dropped the baton on the final leg.

Results

Heats

Heat 1

Rank	Time	Notes
1	47.1	Q
2	48.0	Q
3	48.4	Q
4	49.9

Key: Q = Qualified

Heat 2

Rank	Time	Notes
1	46.4	Q, WR
2	47.5	Q
3	48.6	Q
4	49.5

Key: Q = Qualified, WR = World record

Final

Rank	Time	Notes
	46.9
	47.6
	47.8
4	48.7
5	48.8
		DSQ

Key: DSQ = Disqualified

In the heats, the German team set a world record of 46.4 s.^[2] In the final, they built a commanding lead, but their fourth runner, Ilse Dörffeldt, dropped the baton.^[3] ^[4] The American team won in 46.9 s.^[4] ^[5] ^[6] ^[7]

Notes and References

Web site: Athletics at the 1936 Berlin Summer Games: Women's 4 × 100 metres Relay . https://web.archive.org/web/20200417174049/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1936/ATH/womens-4-x-100-metres-relay.html . dead . 17 April 2020 . 11 August 2017 . sports-reference.com.
Report: Games of the Olympiad, New York: United States Olympic Committee, 1936,, p. 159.
Bud Greenspan, 100 Greatest Moments in Olympic History, Los Angeles: General Publication Group, 1995,, p. 33.
Duff Hart-Davis, Hitler's games: the 1936 Olympics, New York: Harper, 1986,, p. 200.
Louise Mead Tricard, American Women's Track and Field: A History, 1895 through 1980, Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland, 1996,, p. 227.
Reinhard Rürup, ed., 1936, die Olympischen Spiele und der Nationalsozialismus: eine Dokumentation, Berlin: Argon, 1996,, p. 144
Guy Walters, Berlin Games: How Hitler Stole the Olympic Dream, London: Hodder-John Murray,, pp. 268 - 69, wrongly stating that the time of 46.9 s was half a second faster than the record 46.4.