| | Event type

100 metres Backstroke, Men

Date	12 – 14 August 1936
Status	Olympic
Location	Schwimmstadion, Reichssportfeld, Berlin
Participants	30 from 17 countries

Masaji Kiyokowa returned to defend his title but the four years since Los Angeles had seen the emergence of Adolph Kiefer. Kiefer’s father had been a swimming instructor in the German army and Keifer was to arrive in his father’s homeland as the world record holder. Kiefer was already clearly ahead at the halfway point, and was never threatened during the race. He broke the Olympic record and finished ahead of fellow American Al Vande Weghe who moved past Kiyokawa in the closing stages. The race was watched by a relatively small crowd, the result of bad weather and a clash with the handball final.

Pos	Swimmer	NOC	R1	SF	Final
1	Adolph Kiefer	USA	1:06.9 (1 h1)	1:06.8 (1 h1)	1:05.9 (1)	Gold
2	Al Vande Weghe	USA	1:10.6 (2 h3)	1:08.6 (2 h1)	1:07.7 (2)	Silver
3	Masaji Kiyokawa	JPN	1:07.2 (2 h1)	1:09.7 (2 h2)	1:08.4 (3)	Bronze
4	Taylor Drysdale	USA	1:09.0 (1 h2)	1:08.6 (1 h2)	1:09.4 (4)
5	Kiichi Yoshida	JPN	1:10.0 (1 h5)	1:09.5 (4 h1)	1:09.7 (5)
6	Yasuhiko Kojima	JPN	1:09.7 (1 h3)	1:09.9 (3 h2)	1:10.4 (6)
7	Percy Oliver	AUS	1:10.2 (2 h5)	1:09.4 (3 h1)	1:10.7 (7)
4 h2 r2/3	Heinz Schlauch	GER	1:10.1 (2 h2)	1:10.8 (4 h2)	–
5 h1 r2/3	Nils Christiansen	PHI	1:11.5 (3 h3)	1:11.1 (5 h1)	–
5 h2 r2/3	Gordon Kerr	CAN	1:12.9 (2 h4)	1:11.2 (5 h2)	–
6 h1 r2/3	Erwin Simon	GER	1:11.7 (4 h3)	1:11.7 (6 h1)	–
6 h2 r2/3	Draško Vilfan	YUG	1:11.7 (3 h2)	1:13.3 (6 h2)	–
7 h1 r2/3	Hans Schwarz	GER	1:11.0 (3 h1)	1:11.8 (7 h1)	–
7 h2 r2/3	Jack Besford	GBR	1:12.0 (1 h4)	1:13.6 (7 h2)	–
8 h1 r2/3	Björn Borg	SWE	1:15.2 (3 h4)	1:16.3 (8 h1)	–
8 h2 r2/3	Piet Metman	NED	1:13.7 (3 h5)	1:14.1 (8 h2)	–
4 h1 r1/3	Elemér Gombos	HUN	1:12.4 (4 h1)	–	–
4 h2 r1/3	Stans Scheffer	NED	1:13.6 (4 h2)	–	–
4 h4 r1/3	Boris Roolaid	EST	1:21.1 (4 h4)	–	–
4 h5 r1/3	Alberto Caballero	BRA	1:17.0 (4 h5)	–	–
5 h1 r1/3	Jack Middleton	GBR	1:15.0 (5 h1)	–	–
5 h2 r1/3	Árpád Lengyel	HUN	1:15.2 (5 h2)	–	–
5 h3 r1/3	György Erdélyi	HUN	1:14.7 (5 h3)	–	–
5 h4 r1/3	Emmanouil Mallidis	GRE	1:21.5 (5 h4)	–	–
5 h5 r1/3	Børge Bæth	DEN	1:17.3 (5 h5)	–	–
6 h1 r1/3	Benevenuto Nunes	BRA	1:16.9 (6 h1)	–	–
6 h2 r1/3	Munroe Bourne	CAN	1:17.2 (6 h2)	–	–
6 h3 r1/3	Marcel Neumann	LUX	1:18.8 (6 h3)	–	–
6 h5 r1/3	Alfonso Casasempere	CHI	1:21.0 (6 h5)	–	–
7 h2 r1/3	Décio Amaral Filho	BRA	1:21.0 (7 h2)	–	–
DNS	Kurt Patuzzi	AUT	– (DNS h3)	–	–
DNS	Edmund Cooper	BER	– (DNS h5)	–	–
DNS	Ross Doe	BER	– (DNS h1)	–	–
DNS	Ilmari Niemeläinen	FIN	–	–	–
DNS	Ferenc Csík	HUN	–	–	–
DNS	Sándor Barócsy	HUN	–	–	–
DNS	Daniel Carpio	PER	– (DNS h4)	–	–
DNS	Boris Praunsperger	YUG	– (DNS h4)	–	–

Round One (12 August 1936 — 10:30)

Top three in each heat and the fastest fourth-place advanced to the semi-finals.

Heat One

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	1	Adolph Kiefer	USA	– (–) –	1:06.9	QOR
2	2	Masaji Kiyokawa	JPN	– (–) –	1:07.2	Q
3	7	Hans Schwarz	GER	– (–) –	1:11.0	Q
4	3	Elemér Gombos	HUN	– (–) –	1:12.4
5	6	Jack Middleton	GBR	– (–) –	1:15.0
6	5	Benevenuto Nunes	BRA	– (–) –	1:16.9
DNS	4	Ross Doe	BER	– (–) –	–

Heat Two

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	4	Taylor Drysdale	USA	– (–) –	1:09.0	Q
2	2	Heinz Schlauch	GER	– (–) –	1:10.1	Q
3	7	Draško Vilfan	YUG	– (–) –	1:11.7	Q
4	1	Stans Scheffer	NED	– (–) –	1:13.6
5	3	Árpád Lengyel	HUN	– (–) –	1:15.2
6	6	Munroe Bourne	CAN	– (–) –	1:17.2
7	5	Décio Amaral Filho	BRA	– (–) –	1:21.0

Heat Three

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	1	Yasuhiko Kojima	JPN	– (–) –	1:09.7	Q
2	6	Al Vande Weghe	USA	– (–) –	1:10.6	Q
3	4	Nils Christiansen	PHI	– (–) –	1:11.5	Q
4	5	Erwin Simon	GER	– (–) –	1:11.7	q
5	2	György Erdélyi	HUN	– (–) –	1:14.7
6	3	Marcel Neumann	LUX	– (–) –	1:18.8
DNS	7	Kurt Patuzzi	AUT	– (–) –	–

Heat Four

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	3	Jack Besford	GBR	– (–) –	1:12.0	Q
2	5	Gordon Kerr	CAN	– (–) –	1:12.9	Q
3	6	Björn Borg	SWE	– (–) –	1:15.2	Q
4	4	Boris Roolaid	EST	– (–) –	1:21.1
5	2	Emmanouil Mallidis	GRE	– (–) –	1:21.5
DNS	1	Daniel Carpio	PER	– (–) –	–
DNS	7	Boris Praunsperger	YUG	– (–) –	–

Heat Five

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	4	Kiichi Yoshida	JPN	– (–) –	1:10.0	Q
2	3	Percy Oliver	AUS	– (–) –	1:10.2	Q
3	1	Piet Metman	NED	– (–) –	1:13.7	Q
4	5	Alberto Caballero	BRA	– (–) –	1:17.0
5	2	Børge Bæth	DEN	– (–) –	1:17.3
6	6	Alfonso Casasempere	CHI	– (–) –	1:21.0
DNS	7	Edmund Cooper	BER	– (–) –	–

Semi-Finals (13 August 1936 — 16:50)

Top three in each heat and the fastest fourth-place advanced to the final.

Heat One

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	8	Adolph Kiefer	USA	– (–) –	1:06.8	QOR
2	7	Al Vande Weghe	USA	– (–) –	1:08.6	Q
3	1	Percy Oliver	AUS	– (–) –	1:09.4	Q
4	5	Kiichi Yoshida	JPN	– (–) –	1:09.5	q
5	2	Nils Christiansen	PHI	– (–) –	1:11.1
6	4	Erwin Simon	GER	– (–) –	1:11.7
7	6	Hans Schwarz	GER	– (–) –	1:11.8
8	3	Björn Borg	SWE	– (–) –	1:16.3

Heat Two

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	3	Taylor Drysdale	USA	– (–) –	1:08.6	Q
2	1	Masaji Kiyokawa	JPN	– (–) –	1:09.7	Q
3	8	Yasuhiko Kojima	JPN	– (–) –	1:09.9	Q
4	5	Heinz Schlauch	GER	– (–) –	1:10.8
5	2	Gordon Kerr	CAN	– (–) –	1:11.2
6	7	Draško Vilfan	YUG	– (–) –	1:13.3
7	6	Jack Besford	GBR	– (–) –	1:13.6
8	4	Piet Metman	NED	– (–) –	1:14.1

Final (14 August 1936 — 16:30)

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	5	Adolph Kiefer	USA	– (–) –	1:05.9	OR
2	4	Al Vande Weghe	USA	– (–) –	1:07.7
3	7	Masaji Kiyokawa	JPN	– (–) –	1:08.4
4	2	Taylor Drysdale	USA	– (–) –	1:09.4
5	1	Kiichi Yoshida	JPN	– (–) –	1:09.7
6	6	Yasuhiko Kojima	JPN	– (–) –	1:10.4
7	3	Percy Oliver	AUS	– (–) –	1:10.7