Athletics at the 1936 Summer Olympics

The 1936 Olympics are often considered the most controversial Olympics ever, because they were held as a showcase to the Third Reich, its leader, Adolf Hitler, and his theories of Aryan supremacy. In many countries, there were calls to boycott the Berlin Games, but among the major countries, only Spain did not compete, as it was mired in its own Civil War. Before the Olympics, critics of German racial theories received support when Gretel Bergmann, the top German distaff high jumper, but also a Jew, was not chosen for the German team, although her marks for the year were better than any other German. Despite the controversy, Jesse Owens showed the Germans that their theories of Aryan supremacy were, well, basically a crock. He was superlative in winning the 100 metres, 200 metres, long jump, and running on the winning 4x100 metre relay team. The Americans also had several other Black stars – Archie Williams won the 400, Corny Johnson narrowly defeated Dave Albritton in the high jump, and Ralph Metcalfe and Mack Robinson placed second to Owns in the 100 and 200. As a group, they mocked Hitler’s theories. On the first day of track & field competition, Hitler greeted several German athletes in his private box. The story is often told that he then snubbed Owens when he won the 100 metres, but in actuality, if he snubbed anyone, it was Corny Johnson after his high jump gold medal. After the first day of athletics competition, Hitler was asked by IOC President Henri Baillet de Latour to either greet and congratulate all the victors or none of them, rather than singling out the German champions. Rumors persist that Hitler responded by meeting the German champions underneath the stands but these have never been proven.