Athletics at the 1936 Summer Olympics – Men's 400 metres

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Men's 400 metres
at the Games of the XI Olympiad
VenueOlympiastadion: Berlin, Germany
DatesAugust 6 (heats and quarterfinals)
August 7 (semifinals and final)
Competitors42 from 25 nations
Winning time46.5
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Archie Williams
 United States
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Godfrey Brown
 Great Britain
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) James LuValle
 United States
← 1932
1948 →

The men's 400 metres sprint event at the 1936 Olympic Games took place in early August. Forty-two athletes from 25 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 Archie Williams, the third consecutive and seventh overall title in the event for the United States.[2] Godfrey Brown's silver was Great Britain's first medal in the event since 1924.

Background[edit]

This was the tenth appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. None of the finalists from 1932 returned. Archie Williams of the United States was the favorite, setting the world record at 46.1 seconds at the 1936 NCAA championships.[1]

The Republic of China and Romania appeared in the event for the first time. The United States made its tenth appearance in the event, the only nation to compete in it at every Olympic Games to that point.

Competition format[edit]

The competition retained the basic four-round format from 1920. There were 8 heats in the first round, each with 5 or 6 athletes. The top three runners in each heat advanced to the quarterfinals. There were 4 quarterfinals of 6 runners each; the top three athletes in each quarterfinal heat advanced to the semifinals. The semifinals featured 2 heats of 6 runners each. The top three runners in each semifinal heat advanced, making a six-man final.[1][3]

Records[edit]

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in seconds) prior to the 1924 Summer Olympics.

World record  Archie Williams (USA) 46.1 Chicago, United States 19 June 1936
Olympic record  Bill Carr (USA) 46.2 Los Angeles, United States 5 August 1932

No records were set during this event.

Schedule[edit]

Date Time Round
Thursday, 6 August 1936 10:30
15:15
Heats
Quarterfinals
Friday, 7 August 1936 15:00
17:30
Semifinals
Final

Results[edit]

Heats[edit]

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

Heat 1[edit]

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Bill Roberts  Great Britain 48.1 Q
2 Olle Danielsson  Sweden 48.6 Q
3 Johnny Loaring  Canada 49.1 Q
4 Albert Jud  Switzerland 49.4
5 Tibor Ribényi  Hungary 50.1

Heat 2[edit]

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Georges Henry  France 49.2 Q
2 Karel Kněnický  Czechoslovakia 49.6 Q
3 Dennis Shore  South Africa 49.9 Q
4 Sven Strömberg  Sweden 50.0
5 Johann Baptist Gudenus  Austria 52.9

Heat 3[edit]

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Godfrey Brown  Great Britain 48.8 Q
2 Mario Lanzi  Italy 49.3 Q
3 Adolf Metzner  Germany 50.2 Q
4 Mohamed Ebeid  Egypt 50.5
5 Jean Verhaert  Belgium 50.7
6 Leonard Tay  Republic of China 52.4

Heat 4[edit]

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Harold Smallwood  United States 49.0 Q
2 Marshall Limon  Canada 49.2 Q
3 József Vadas  Hungary 49.2 Q
4 Rolf Schønheyder  Norway 49.4
5 Antônio de Carvalho  Brazil 50.4
6 Hiroyoshi Kubota  Japan 50.8

Heat 5[edit]

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Jimmy LuValle  United States 49.1 Q
2 Juan Carlos Anderson  Argentina 49.4 Q
3 Zoltán Zsitva  Hungary 49.8 Q
4 Francisc Nemeş  Romania 50.9
5 Keiji Imai  Japan 51.0

Heat 6[edit]

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Hermann Blazejezak  Germany 47.9 Q
2 Godfrey Rampling  Great Britain 48.6 Q
3 Börje Strandvall  Finland 49.3 Q
4 Raymond Boisset  France 49.5
5 Jean Krombach  Luxembourg 50.4

Heat 7[edit]

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Archie Williams  United States 47.8 Q
2 William Fritz  Canada 49.0 Q
3 Gunnar Christensen  Denmark 49.3 Q
4 Toyoyi Aihara  Japan 50.2
5 Raúl Muñoz  Chile 50.5

Heat 8[edit]

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Pierre Skawinski  France 48.9 Q
2 Bertil von Wachenfeldt  Sweden 49.0 Q
3 Rudolf Klupsch  Germany 49.1 Q
4 Alfred König  Austria 49.4
5 Gyan Bhalla  India 52.4

Quarterfinals[edit]

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

Quarterfinal 1[edit]

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 5 Bill Roberts  Great Britain 47.7 Q
2 1 Harold Smallwood  United States 48.6 Q
3 3 Mario Lanzi  Italy 48.8 Q
4 2 Zoltán Zsitva  Hungary 49.4
5 4 Dennis Shore  South Africa 49.6
6 6 Gunnar Christensen  Denmark 51.0

Quarterfinal 2[edit]

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 2 Hermann Blazejezak  Germany 48.2 Q
2 5 Godfrey Brown  Great Britain 48.3 Q
3 6 William Fritz  Canada 48.4 Q
4 4 Bertil von Wachenfeldt  Sweden 48.5
5 1 Georges Henry  France 49.4
6 3 Börje Strandvall  Finland 49.9

Quarterfinal 3[edit]

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 1 Archie Williams  United States 48.0 Q
2 3 Juan Carlos Anderson  Argentina 48.7 Q
3 2 Johnny Loaring  Canada 49.3 Q
4 4 Olle Danielsson  Sweden 49.6
Adolf Metzner  Germany DNS
József Vadas  Hungary DNS

Quarterfinal 4[edit]

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 2 Jimmy LuValle  United States 47.6 Q
2 6 Pierre Skawinski  France 48.0 Q
3 3 Godfrey Rampling  Great Britain 48.0 Q
4 4 Rudolf Klupsch  Germany 48.8
5 1 Marshall Limon  Canada 48.9
6 5 Karel Kněnický  Czechoslovakia 49.6

Semifinals[edit]

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

Semifinal 1[edit]

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 5 Archie Williams  United States 47.2 Q
2 2 Bill Roberts  Great Britain 48.0 Q
3 3 Johnny Loaring  Canada 48.1 Q
4 1 Mario Lanzi  Italy 48.2
5 5 Pierre Skawinski  France 52.0
Harold Smallwood  United States DNS

Semifinal 2[edit]

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 4 Jimmy LuValle  United States 47.1 Q
2 5 Godfrey Brown  Great Britain 47.3 Q
3 6 William Fritz  Canada 47.4 Q
4 2 Godfrey Rampling  Great Britain 47.5
5 3 Juan Carlos Anderson  Argentina 48.5
6 1 Hermann Blazejezak  Germany 49.2

Final[edit]

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time
1st place, gold medalist(s) 5 Archie Williams  United States 46.5
2nd place, silver medalist(s) 6 Godfrey Brown  Great Britain 46.7
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 2 James LuValle  United States 46.8
4 3 Bill Roberts  Great Britain 46.8
5 1 William Fritz  Canada 47.8
6 4 Johnny Loaring  Canada 48.2

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c "400 metres, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  2. ^ "Athletics at the 1936 Berlin Summer Games: Men's 400 metres". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 23 July 2017.
  3. ^ Official Report, vol. 1, pp. 624–26.