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

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Men's 800 metres
at the Games of the XI Olympiad
VenueOlympiastadion: Berlin, Germany
DatesAugust 2 (heats)
August 3 (semifinals)
August 4 (final)
Competitors42 from 23 nations
Winning time1:52.9 WR
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) John Woodruff
 United States
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Mario Lanzi
 Italy
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Phil Edwards
 Canada
← 1932
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.[1] 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.[2]

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

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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

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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.[1]

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

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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.[1][3]

Records

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

World record  Ben Eastman (USA) 1:49.8y Princeton, United States 16 June 1934
Olympic record  Tommy Hampson (GBR) 1:49.7 Los Angeles, United States 2 August 1932

No world or Olympic records were set during the competition.

Schedule

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

Results

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Round 1

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

Heat 1

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Phil Edwards  Canada 1:53.7 Q
2 Chuck Hornbostel  United States 1:53.7 Q
3 Jean Verhaert  Belgium 1:54.3 Q
4 Ferenc Temesvári  Hungary 1:55.0 Q
5 Pierre Hemmer  Luxembourg 1:56.3
6 Rudolf Harbig  Germany 1:56.8
7 Francisco Váldez  Peru Unknown
8 Stavros Velkopoulos  Greece Unknown
Erik Wennberg  Sweden DNS

Heat 2

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Harry Williamson  United States 1:56.2 Q
2 Ab Conway  Canada 1:56.2 Q
3 Pat Boot  New Zealand 1:56.6 Q
4 Emil Hübscher  Austria 1:57.3 Q
5 Emil Goršek  Yugoslavia 1:59.5
6 Carlos Marcenaro  Peru 2:00.8
Abu Al-Yazid El-Halawani  Egypt DNS
René Morel  France DNS
Ossi Teileri  Finland DNS

Heat 3

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Brian MacCabe  Great Britain 1:54.5 Q
2 Raymond Petit  France 1:54.8 Q
3 Hjalmar Johannessen  Norway 1:54.9 Q
4 Ewald Mertens  Germany 1:55.1 Q
5 Clarke Scholtz  South Africa 1:57.6
6 Toshinao Tomie  Japan 1:59.9
7 Stanislav Otáhal  Czechoslovakia Unknown
8 Gyan Bhalla  India Unknown
Fritz Sollberger  Switzerland DNS

Heat 4

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Gerald Backhouse  Australia 1:57.7 Q
2 Miklós Szabó  Hungary 1:57.8 Q
3 John Woodruff  United States 1:58.7 Q
4 Frank Handley  Great Britain 1:58.9 Q
5 Evžen Rošický  Czechoslovakia 1:59.5
6 Paul Martin  Switzerland 2:00.0
7 Charles Stein  Luxembourg Unknown
Francisc Nemeș  Romania DNS
Eric Ny  Sweden DNS

Heat 5

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Jack Powell  Great Britain 1:56.0 Q
2 Mario Lanzi  Italy 1:56.1 Q
3 Franz Eichberger  Austria 1:56.3 Q
4 József Vadas  Hungary 1:56.5 Q
5 Willie Botha  South Africa 1:57.0
6 Grigorios Georgakopoulos  Greece 1:57.3
7 Jack Liddle  Canada Unknown
Miguel Castro  Chile DNS
Luis Pratsmasó  Spain DNS

Heat 6

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Juan Carlos Anderson  Argentina 1:55.1 Q
2 Kazimierz Kucharski  Poland 1:55.7 Q
3 Wolfgang Dessecker  Germany 1:56.0 Q
4 René Soulier  France 1:56.1 Q
5 William Lindeque  South Africa 1:56.4
6 Kumao Aochi  Japan 1:56.8
Jia Lianren  Republic of China DNS
Karlo Nikhazi  Yugoslavia DNS
Enrique Piferrer  Spain DNS

Semifinals

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

Semifinal 1

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 John Woodruff  United States 1:52.7 Q
2 Kazimierz Kucharski  Poland 1:54.7 Q
3 Juan Carlos Anderson  Argentina 1:54.8 Q
4 Miklós Szabó  Hungary 1:55.1
5 Wolfgang Dessecker  Germany 1:55.3
6 Franz Eichberger  Austria 1:56.2
7 Pat Boot  New Zealand Unknown
8 Frank Handley  Great Britain Unknown

Semifinal 2

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Harry Williamson  United States 1:53.1 Q
2 Gerald Backhouse  Australia 1:53.2 Q
3 Phil Edwards  Canada 1:53.2 Q
4 Jack Powell  Great Britain 1:54.8
5 Ewald Mertens  Germany 1:54.9
6 René Soulier  France 1:56.8
7 Emil Hübscher  Austria Unknown
8 József Vadas  Hungary Unknown

Semifinal 3

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Chuck Hornbostel  United States 1:53.2 Q
2 Mario Lanzi  Italy 1:54.1 Q
3 Brian MacCabe  Great Britain 1:55.4 Q
4 Raymond Petit  France 1:55.7
5 Ab Conway  Canada 1:55.9
6 Hjalmar Johannessen  Norway 1:56.0
7 Ferenc Temesvári  Hungary Unknown
8 Jean Verhaert  Belgium Unknown

Final

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Rank Athlete Nation Time
1st place, gold medalist(s) John Woodruff  United States 1:52.9
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Mario Lanzi  Italy 1:53.3
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Phil Edwards  Canada 1:53.6
4 Kazimierz Kucharski  Poland 1:53.8
5 Chuck Hornbostel  United States 1:54.6
6 Harry Williamson  United States 1:55.8
7 Juan Carlos Anderson  Argentina Unknown
8 Gerald Backhouse  Australia Unknown
9 Brian MacCabe  Great Britain Unknown

References

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  1. ^ a b c "800 metres, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 6 August 2020.
  2. ^ "Athletics at the 1936 Berlin Summer Games: Men's 800 metres". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
  3. ^ Official Report, pp. 627–29.