1936 Summer Olympics

• Before the Games, the IOC expelled American Ernest Lee Jahnke, the son of a German immigrant, for encouraging athletes to boycott. He was replaced by United States Olympic Committee president Avery Brundage, who supported the Games.
• In the cycling match sprint finals, the German Toni Merkens fouled Arie van Vliet of the Netherlands. Instead of disqualification he was fined 100 marks and kept his gold.
• American Jesse Owens won four gold medals in the sprint and long jump events.
• Rie Mastenbroek of the Netherlands won three gold medals and a silver in swimming.
• Rower Jack Beresford won his fifth Olympic medal in the sport, and his third gold medal.
• For the first time the Olympic Flame was brought to the Olympic Town by a torch relay, with the starting point in Olympia, Greece.
• The games were the first to have live television coverage, Telefunken and Fernseh broadcast over seventy hours of coverage to specially erected booths throughout the city.
• Basketball and handball made their debut at the Olympics, both as outdoor sports. Handball would not appear again on the program until 1972.
• German gymnasts Konrad Frey and Alfred Schwarzmann both won three gold medals.
• In the marathon two Korean athletes -- Sohn Kee-chung and Nam Sung-yong -- won medals, while running for Japan and under Japanese names. Japan had annexed Korea since 1910.
• In the quarter-finals of the football tournament, Peru beat Austria by 4 to 2 in over-time, but a replay was ordered as Peruvian fans stormed the pitch during the match. The Peruvian team left for home in disagreement, while Austria went on to lose the final and receive a silver medal.
• Three Principles of the People was chosen the best national anthem of the games.
• Basketball : This was the year that basketball became a recognized Olympic sport. In the finals, the United States' undefeated team beat Canada 19-8 under abysmal conditions. The contest was played outdoors, on a dirt court in a driving rain. Due to the quagmire the teams could not dribble and the score was held to a minimum. High scorer in the game was Joe Fortenbury for the U.S. with 7 points. Also, there were no seats for spectators and the nearly 1,000 in attendance had to stand in the rain through the entire game.

• Athletics
• Basketball
• Boxing
• Canoeing
• Cycling
• Diving
• Equestrianism
• Fencing
• Football
• Gymnastics
• Handball
• Hockey
• Modern Pentathlon
• Polo
• Rowing
• Shooting
• Swimming
• Water Polo
• Weightlifting
• Wrestling
• Yachting

• Olympic Games
• Summer Olympic Games
• International Olympic Committee
• WikiProject Sports Olympics
• IOC country codes

• IOC Site on 1936 Summer Olympics

• Photos of the 1936 Olympic Stadium