The men's marathon at the 1932 Summer Olympics took place on August 7. It started and finished at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.[1] Twenty-eight athletes from 14 nations competed.[2] The 1930 Olympic Congress in Berlin had reduced the limit from 6 athletes per NOC to 3 athletes.[3] The event was won by Juan Carlos Zabala of Argentina, the nation's first Olympic marathon medal. Great Britain also earned its first Olympic marathon medal with Sam Ferris's silver, while Finland made the marathon podium for a fourth consecutive Games as Armas Toivonen won bronze.
| Men's marathon at the Games of the X Olympiad | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
_-_El_Gr%C3%A1fico_685.jpg) Juan Carlos Zabala | ||||||||||
| Venue | Started and finished at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum | |||||||||
| Dates | August 7 | |||||||||
| Competitors | 28 from 14 nations | |||||||||
| Winning time | 2:31:36 OR | |||||||||
| Medalists | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
Background edit
This was the ninth appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Returning runners from 1928 included sixth-place finisher Seiichiro Tsuda of Japan, eighth-place finisher Sam Ferris of Great Britain, ninth-place finisher Albert Michelsen of the United States, and tenth-place finisher Clifford Bricker of Canada. Ferris, along with Dunky Wright (20th in 1928) were among the best-known runners who competed; Armas Toivonen led the always-strong Finnish team. Finland was without Paavo Nurmi, who would have been favored but was suspended just days before the Games began for allegedly accepting excessive expense money in violation of amateurism rules.[2] Finns charged that the Swedish officials, who were in charge of the international athletics federation at the time,[4] had used devious tricks in their campaign against Nurmi's amateur status, and ceased all athletic relations with Sweden.[5]
Argentina, Brazil, and Colombia each made their first appearance in Olympic marathons. The United States made its ninth appearance, the only nation to have competed in each Olympic marathon to that point.
Competition format edit
As all Olympic marathons, the competition was a single race. The now-standard marathon distance of 26 miles, 385 yards was run over a course that "started and finished at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, but was a loop course around Los Angeles."[2]
Records edit
Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record |  Albert Michelsen (USA) |
2:29:01.8 | Port Chester, United States | 12 October 1925 |
| Olympic record |  Hannes Kolehmainen (FIN) |
2:32:35.8(*) | Antwerp, Belgium | 22 August 1920 |
(*) Course was list at 42.75 kilometres.
Schedule edit
| Date | Time | Round |
|---|---|---|
| Sunday, 7 August 1932 | 15:30 | Final |
Results edit
References edit
- ^ "Athletics at the 1932 Los Angeles Summer Games: Men's Marathon". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 30 April 2017.
- ^ a b c "Marathon, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 26 August 2020.
- ^ Official Report, p. 377.
- ^ "Battle with Sweden is personal for Finland".
- ^ "Finland and Sweden renew old rivalry on the athletics track this weekend". Helsingin Sanomat. 29 August 2008. Retrieved 20 August 2012.