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

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 0.2 seconds 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.

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 →

Background

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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

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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

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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

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

Results

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Heats

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

Heat 1

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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

Quarterfinal 1

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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

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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

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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

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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

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

Semifinal 1

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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

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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

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Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time
  5 Archie Williams   United States 46.5
  6 Godfrey Brown   Great Britain 46.7
  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

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  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.