| | Event type

1,500 metres Freestyle, Men

Date	13 – 15 August 1936
Status	Olympic
Location	Schwimmstadion, Reichssportfeld, Berlin
Participants	21 from 10 countries

For the second Olympics in succession, this event was dominated by the two powerhouses of men’s swimming, the United States and Japan. The main adversaries from the 400 metres, Jack Medica and Shunpei Uto, again had a dramatic personal duel, but this time it was for second place and the silver medal. The winner was a 19 year old university student from Japan, Noboru Terada. Terada went out hard from the start and never came under pressure from the other finalists. He was a half a length ahead at the finish. Medica, after having been out of the medals early on in the race, edged ahead of Uto with just over 100 metres to go.

Pos	Number	Competitor	NOC	R1	SF	Final
1	217	Noboru Terada	JPN	19:55.5 (=1 h2)	19:48.6 (1 h1)	19:13.7 (1)	Gold
2	446	Jack Medica	USA	19:55.5 (=1 h2)	19:42.8 (1 h2)	19:34.0 (2)	Silver
3	215	Shunpei Uto	JPN	19:48.3 (1 h3)	19:55.6 (3 h2)	19:34.5 (3)	Bronze
4	216	Sunao Ishiharada	JPN	19:55.8 (1 h1)	19:53.9 (2 h2)	19:48.5 (4)
5	448	Ralph Flanagan	USA	19:49.9 (2 h3)	19:59.4 (2 h1)	19:54.8 (5)
6	131	Bobby Leivers	GBR	20:04.4 (2 h1)	20:10.0 (3 h1)	19:57.4 (6)
7	494	Heinz Arendt	GER	20:10.7 (3 h1)	19:56.1 (4 h2)	19:59.0 (7)
8	133	Norman Wainwright	GBR	20:47.6 (2 h4)	20:14.4 (5 h2)	–
9	63	Bob Pirie	CAN	20:16.4 (4 h1)	20:17.3 (6 h2)	–
10	447	Jim Cristy	USA	20:26.5 (1 h4)	20:25.8 (4 h1)	–
11	495	Hans Freese	GER	20:13.7 (3 h3)	20:27.6 (5 h1)	–
12	496	Otto Przywara	GER	20:59.0 (3 h4)	20:55.0 (6 h1)	–
13	109	Christian Talli	FRA	21:03.0 (4 h3)	21:09.8 (7 h2)	–
14	87	Jørgen Jørgensen	DEN	21:42.0 (3 h2)	21:46.3 (7 h1)	–
15	57	Bob Hamerton	CAN	21:05.5 (5 h3)	–	–
16	–	Edmund Pader	AUT	21:13.9 (4 h4)	–	–
17	86	Aage Hellstrøm	DEN	21:16.9 (6 h3)	–	–
18	62	Robert Hooper	CAN	21:47.4 (4 h2)	–	–
19	45	Manoel Villar	BRA	21:49.9 (5 h1)	–	–
20	51	João Havelange	BRA	22:54.1 (5 h2)	–	–
AC	402	István Angyal	HUN	– (6 h1)	–	–
DNS	6	Kurt Patuzzi	AUT	– (DNS h1)	–	–
DNS	74	Jorge Berroeta	CHI	– (DNS h4)	–	–
DNS	76	Washington Guzmán	CHI	– (DNS h2)	–	–
DNS	7	Qadri Mahmud	EGY	– (DNS h1)	–	–
DNS	–	Ödön Gróf	HUN	– (DNS h2)	–	–
DNS	400	Árpád Lengyel	HUN	– (DNS h4)	–	–
DNS	423	Maximino García	URU	– (DNS h3)	–	–

Round One

Date	13 August 1936 — 11:15
Format	Top three in each heat and the next two fastest advanced to the semi-finals.

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	6	Shunpei Uto	JPN	19:48.3	Q
2	1	Ralph Flanagan	USA	19:49.9	Q
=3	2	Jack Medica	USA	19:55.5	Q
=3	3	Noboru Terada	JPN	19:55.5	Q
5	2	Sunao Ishiharada	JPN	19:55.8	Q
6	4	Bobby Leivers	GBR	20:04.4	Q
7	5	Heinz Arendt	GER	20:10.7	Q
8	4	Hans Freese	GER	20:13.7	Q
9	7	Bob Pirie	CAN	20:16.4	q
10	6	Jim Cristy	USA	20:26.5	Q
11	1	Norman Wainwright	GBR	20:47.6	Q	1
12	7	Otto Przywara	GER	20:59.0	Q
13	7	Christian Talli	FRA	21:03.0	q
14	2	Bob Hamerton	CAN	21:05.5
15	4	Edmund Pader	AUT	21:13.9
16	5	Aage Hellstrøm	DEN	21:16.9
17	4	Jørgen Jørgensen	DEN	21:42.0	Q
18	6	Robert Hooper	CAN	21:47.4
19	1	Manoel Villar	BRA	21:49.9
20	1	João Havelange	BRA	22:54.1
AC	8	István Angyal	HUN	–		2
DNS	3	Qadri Mahmud	EGY	–
DNS	6	Kurt Patuzzi	AUT	–
DNS	7	Washington Guzmán	CHI	–
DNS	5	Ödön Gróf	HUN	–
DNS	3	Maximino García	URU	–
DNS	3	Jorge Berroeta	CHI	–
DNS	2	Árpád Lengyel	HUN	–

Heat #1

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	2	Sunao Ishiharada	JPN	19:55.8	Q
2	4	Bobby Leivers	GBR	20:04.4	Q
3	5	Heinz Arendt	GER	20:10.7	Q
4	7	Bob Pirie	CAN	20:16.4	q
5	1	Manoel Villar	BRA	21:49.9
6	8	István Angyal	HUN	–
DNS	3	Qadri Mahmud	EGY	–
DNS	6	Kurt Patuzzi	AUT	–

Heat #2

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time
=1	2	Jack Medica	USA	19:55.5	Q
=1	3	Noboru Terada	JPN	19:55.5	Q
3	4	Jørgen Jørgensen	DEN	21:42.0	Q
4	6	Robert Hooper	CAN	21:47.4
5	1	João Havelange	BRA	22:54.1
DNS	7	Washington Guzmán	CHI	–
DNS	5	Ödön Gróf	HUN	–

Heat #3

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	6	Shunpei Uto	JPN	19:48.3	Q
2	1	Ralph Flanagan	USA	19:49.9	Q
3	4	Hans Freese	GER	20:13.7	Q
4	7	Christian Talli	FRA	21:03.0	q
5	2	Bob Hamerton	CAN	21:05.5
6	5	Aage Hellstrøm	DEN	21:16.9
DNS	3	Maximino García	URU	–

Heat #4

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	6	Jim Cristy	USA	20:26.5	Q
2	1	Norman Wainwright	GBR	20:47.6	Q	3
3	7	Otto Przywara	GER	20:59.0	Q
4	4	Edmund Pader	AUT	21:13.9
DNS	3	Jorge Berroeta	CHI	–
DNS	2	Árpád Lengyel	HUN	–

Semi-Finals

Date	14 August 1936 — 15:30
Format	Top three in each heat and the fastest fourth-place advanced to the final.

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	7	Jack Medica	USA	19:42.8	Q
2	2	Noboru Terada	JPN	19:48.6	Q
3	4	Sunao Ishiharada	JPN	19:53.9	Q
4	3	Shunpei Uto	JPN	19:55.6	Q
5	2	Heinz Arendt	GER	19:56.1	q
6	1	Ralph Flanagan	USA	19:59.4	Q
7	3	Bobby Leivers	GBR	20:10.0	Q
8	6	Norman Wainwright	GBR	20:14.4
9	5	Bob Pirie	CAN	20:17.3
10	5	Jim Cristy	USA	20:25.8
11	7	Hans Freese	GER	20:27.6
12	6	Otto Przywara	GER	20:55.0
13	1	Christian Talli	FRA	21:09.8
14	4	Jørgen Jørgensen	DEN	21:46.3

Heat #1

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	2	Noboru Terada	JPN	19:48.6	Q
2	1	Ralph Flanagan	USA	19:59.4	Q
3	3	Bobby Leivers	GBR	20:10.0	Q
4	5	Jim Cristy	USA	20:25.8
5	7	Hans Freese	GER	20:27.6
6	6	Otto Przywara	GER	20:55.0
7	4	Jørgen Jørgensen	DEN	21:46.3

Heat #2

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	7	Jack Medica	USA	19:42.8	Q
2	4	Sunao Ishiharada	JPN	19:53.9	Q
3	3	Shunpei Uto	JPN	19:55.6	Q
4	2	Heinz Arendt	GER	19:56.1	q
5	6	Norman Wainwright	GBR	20:14.4
6	5	Bob Pirie	CAN	20:17.3
7	1	Christian Talli	FRA	21:09.8

Final Round

Date	15 August 1936 — 16:10

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	4	Noboru Terada	JPN	19:13.7
2	2	Jack Medica	USA	19:34.0
3	3	Shunpei Uto	JPN	19:34.5
4	1	Sunao Ishiharada	JPN	19:48.5
5	6	Ralph Flanagan	USA	19:54.8
6	7	Bobby Leivers	GBR	19:57.4
7	5	Heinz Arendt	GER	19:59.0