Athletics at the 1936 Summer Olympics – Men's high jump

Men's high jump
at the Games of the XI Olympiad
Olympiastadion
VenueOlympiastadion: Berlin, Germany
DatesAugust 2
Competitors40 from 23 nations
Winning height2.03 OR
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Cornelius Johnson
 United States
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Dave Albritton
 United States
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Delos Thurber
 United States
← 1932
1948 →

The men's high jump event was part of the track and field athletics programme at the 1936 Summer Olympics. The competition was held on August 2, 1936. Forty athletes from 24 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 Cornelius Johnson of the United States.[2] It was the nation's ninth victory in the men's high jump. Johnson's fellow Americans Dave Albritton and Delos Thurber took silver and bronze to complete the podium sweep, the second time (after the inaugural Games in 1896) the United States had taken all three medals in the event.

Background

This was the tenth appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. The returning jumpers from the 1932 Games were bronze medalist Simeon Toribio of the Philippines (who had also placed fourth in 1928), fourth-place finisher Cornelius Johnson of the United States, and seventh-place finisher Jerzy Pławczyk of Poland. Johnson was the slight favorite over his countryman Dave Albritton; both had jumped 2.07 metres at the U.S. trials to break the world record.[1]

Australia, Austria, Brazil, the Republic of China, Denmark, Iceland, and Yugoslavia each made their debut in the event. The United States appeared for the tenth time, having competed at each edition of the Olympic men's high jump to that point.

Competition format

The competition returned to the two-round format introduced in 1912. There were two distinct rounds of jumping with results cleared between rounds. All jumpers clearing 1.85 metres in the qualifying round advanced to the final (described at the time as separate semifinals and final, though the results were not reset between them). There were jump-offs in the final to resolve ties through sixth place, though the sixth-place jump-off was cancelled "by special order".[1][3]

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in metres) prior to the 1936 Summer Olympics.

World record  Cornelius Johnson (USA)
 Dave Albritton (USA)
2.07 New York, United States 12 July 1936
Olympic record  Harold Osborn (USA) 1.98 Paris, France 7 July 1924

Four men cleared the bar at 2.00 metres, besting the Olympic record: Cornelius Johnson, Dave Albritton, Delos Thurber, and Kalevi Kotkas. Johnson further improved the new record with a successful jump at 2.03 metres. He then tried for the world record, setting the bar at 2.08 metres, but could not achieve that height.

Schedule

The "semifinal" was in effect just the first half of the final.

Date Time Round
Sunday, 2 August 1936 10:30
15:00
17:30
Qualifying
Semifinal
Final

Results

Key

  • o = Height cleared
  • x = Height failed
  • = Height passed
  • r  = Retired
  • SB = Season's best
  • PB = Personal best
  • NR = National record
  • AR = Area record
  • OR = Olympic record
  • WR = World record
  • WL = World lead
  • NM = No mark
  • DNS = Did not start
  • DQ = Disqualified

Qualifying

Rank Athlete Nation Height Notes
1 Dave Albritton  United States 1.85 Q
Günther Gehmert  Germany 1.85 Q
Jerzy Pławczyk  Poland 1.85 Q
Kimio Yada  Japan 1.85 Q
Mihály Bodosi  Hungary 1.85 Q
Veikko Peräsalo  Finland 1.85 Q
Reindert Brasser  Netherlands 1.85 Q
Aksel Kuuse  Estonia 1.85 Q
Simeon Toribio  Philippines 1.85 Q
Poul Otto  Denmark 1.85 Q
Kalevi Kotkas  Finland 1.85 Q
Gustav Weinkötz  Germany 1.85 Q
Yoshiro Asakuma  Japan 1.85 Q
Joe Haley  Canada 1.85 Q
Rudolf Eggenberg  Switzerland 1.85 Q
Cornelius Johnson  United States 1.85 Q
Delos Thurber  United States 1.85 Q
Åke Ödmark  Sweden 1.85 Q
Lauri Kalima  Finland 1.85 Q
Jack Metcalfe  Australia 1.85 Q
Hiroshi Tanaka  Japan 1.85 Q
Edwin Thacker  South Africa 1.85 Q
23 Alfredo Mendes  Brazil 1.80
Svend Aage Thomsen  Denmark 1.80
Robert Kennedy  Great Britain 1.80
Ícaro Mello  Brazil 1.80
Jack Newman  Great Britain 1.80
Gerard Carlier  Netherlands 1.80
Edvard Natvig  Norway 1.80
Sigurður Sigurðsson  Iceland 1.80
Fritz Flachberger  Austria 1.80
32 Stan West  Great Britain 1.70
Fritz Neuruhrer  Austria 1.70
Břetislav Krátký  Czechoslovakia 1.70
Hans Mohr  Yugoslavia 1.70
Zdeněk Sobotka  Czechoslovakia 1.70
Hans Martens  Germany 1.70
Konstantinos Pantazis  Greece 1.70
Karol Hoffmann  Poland 1.70
Wu Bixian  Republic of China 1.70

Final

Details of the jump-off for second through fourth places are unknown. There was supposed to be a jump-off for sixth place, but it "did not take place, by special order."[3]

Rank Athlete Nation 1.70 1.80 1.85 1.90 1.94 1.97 2.00 2.03 2.08 Height Notes
1st place, gold medalist(s) Cornelius Johnson  United States o o o o o o o o xxx 2.03 OR
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Dave Albritton  United States o xo o o o xo xxo xxx 2.00
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Delos Thurber  United States o o o o o xo xxx 2.00
4 Kalevi Kotkas  Finland o o xxo o xxo xxx 2.00
5 Kimio Yada  Japan o o o o o o xxx 1.97
6 Hiroshi Tanaka  Japan o o o o o xxx 1.94
Yoshiro Asakuma  Japan o o o o xo xxx 1.94
Lauri Kalima  Finland o o o o xo xxx 1.94
Gustav Weinkötz  Germany o o xo o xxo xxx 1.94
10 Aksel Kuuse  Estonia o o o xxo xxx 1.90
Günther Gehmert  Germany xo o xxo xxx 1.90
12 Jack Metcalfe  Australia o o o xxx 1.85
Reindert Brasser  Netherlands o o o xxx 1.85
Åke Ödmark  Sweden o o o xxx 1.85
Edwin Thacker  South Africa o o o xxx 1.85
Joe Haley  Canada xo o xxx 1.85
Simeon Toribio  Philippines o xo o xxx 1.85
Poul Otto  Denmark o xo xo xxx 1.85
Veikko Peräsalo  Finland xo o xxo xxx 1.85
Rudolf Eggenberg  Switzerland o xxo xxx 1.85
Mihály Bodosi  Hungary o o xxo xxx 1.85
22 Jerzy Pławczyk  Poland o o xxx 1.80

References

  1. ^ a b c "High Jump, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 15 September 2020.
  2. ^ "Athletics at the 1936 Berlin Summer Games: Men's High Jump". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 26 December 2017.
  3. ^ a b Official Report, vol. 2, p. 664.