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

Men's 4 × 100 metre relay
at the Games of the XI Olympiad
VenueOlympiastadion: Berlin, Germany
DatesAugust 9 (heats, final)
Competitors from 15 nations
Teams15
Winning time39.8
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Jesse Owens
Ralph Metcalfe
Foy Draper
Frank Wykoff
 United States
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Orazio Mariani
Gianni Caldana
Elio Ragni
Tullio Gonnelli
 Italy
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Wilhelm Leichum
Erich Borchmeyer
Erwin Gillmeister
Gerd Hornberger
 Germany
← 1932
1948 →

The men's 4 × 100 metres relay event at the 1936 Olympic Games took place on August 9.[1] The United States team of Jesse Owens, Ralph Metcalfe, Foy Draper and Frank Wykoff won in a world record time of 39.8.

Marty Glickman and Sam Stoller were originally slated to compete in the American relay team but were replaced by Owens and Metcalfe prior to the start of the race. There were speculations that their Jewish heritage contributed to the decision "not to embarrass the German hosts"; however, given that African-Americans were also heavily disliked by the Nazis, Glickman and Stoller's replacement with black American athletes Owens and Metcalfe does not support this theory. Others state that Owens and Metcalfe were in a better physical condition, and that was the main reason behind the replacement.

Results

Heats

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

Heat 1

Rank Country Competitors Time Notes
1  United States Jesse Owens, Ralph Metcalfe, Foy Draper, Frank Wykoff 40.0 =WR
2  Italy Orazio Mariani, Gianni Caldana, Elio Ragni, Tullio Gonnelli 41.1
3  South Africa Eric Grimbeek, Pat Dannaher, Tom Lavery, Marthinus Theunissen 41.7
4  Finland Toivo Ahjopalo, Toivo Sariola, Palle Virtanen, Aki Tammisto 42.0
 Japan Takayoshi Yoshioka, Monta Suzuki, Mutsuo Taniguchi, Masao Yazawa DSQ

Heat 2

Rank Country Athletes Time Notes
1  Netherlands Tjeerd Boersma, Wil van Beveren, Chris Berger, Tinus Osendarp 41.3
2  Argentina Juan Lavenás, Antonio Sande, Carlos Hofmeister, Tomás Beswick 41.9
3  Hungary Mario Minai, Gyula Gyenes, József Kovács, József Sir 42.0
4  Great Britain Charles Wiard, Don Finlay, Walter Rangeley, Alan Pennington 42.4
5  France Maurice Carlton, Pierre Dondelinger, Paul Bronner, Robert Paul 42.6
6  Republic of China Poh Kimseng, Huang Yingjie, Chen Kingkwan, Liu Changchun 44.8

Heat 3

Rank Country Athletes Time Notes
1  Germany Wilhelm Leichum, Erich Borchmeyer, Erwin Gillmeister, Gerd Hornberger 41.4
2  Canada Sam Richardson, Bruce Humber, Lee Orr, Howard McPhee 41.5
3  Sweden Lennart Lindgren, Irvin Ternström, Östen Sandström, Åke Stenqvist 41.5
4  Switzerland Albert Jud, Bernard Marchand, Georges Meyer, Paul Hänni 42.2

Final

Rank Country Athletes Time Notes
1st place, gold medalist(s)  United States Jesse Owens, Ralph Metcalfe, Foy Draper, Frank Wykoff 39.8 WR
2nd place, silver medalist(s)  Italy Orazio Mariani, Gianni Caldana, Elio Ragni, Tullio Gonnelli 41.1
3rd place, bronze medalist(s)  Germany Wilhelm Leichum, Erich Borchmeyer, Erwin Gillmeister, Gerd Hornberger 41.2
4  Argentina Juan Lavenás, Antonio Sande, Carlos Hofmeister, Tomás Beswick 42.2
5  Canada Sam Richardson, Bruce Humber, Lee Orr, Howard McPhee 42.7
 Netherlands Tjeerd Boersma, Wil van Beveren, Chris Berger, Tinus Osendarp DSQ

Key: DSQ = Disqualified, WR = World record

References

  1. ^ "Athletics at the 1936 Berlin Summer Games: Men's 4 × 100 metres Relay". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 11 August 2017.