Athletics at the 1936 Summer Olympics – Men's 1500 metres

The men's 1500 metres event at the 1936 Olympic Games was on August 4 and August 6. There were 43 athletes. These athletes were from 27 different nations. Each nation could have up to 3 athletes in this event. This rule was set in the 1930 Olympic Congress. The final was won by Kiwi Jack Lovelock. He beat the world record time. This was New Zealand's first medal in this event. Glenn Cunningham of the United States won 2nd place. This was the first time that the United States was in the top 3 since 1920. Luigi Beccali of Italy won the event in 1932. In this race, he came in 3rd. He became the first man to have 2 medals in this event.

Men's 1500 metres at the Games of the XI Olympiad
Olympic Athletics.png Olympic Athletics
Venue	Olympiastadion: Berlin, Germany
Dates	August 4 (heats) August 6 (final)
Competitors	43 from 27 nations
Winning time	3:47.8 WR
Medalists
Jack Lovelock  New Zealand   Glenn Cunningham  United States   Luigi Beccali  Italy
«1932	1948»

Background

This was the 10th time this event was run. It was one of 12 athletics that has been at every Summer Olympics. The event had many fast runners. 6 of the 7 fastest runners from 1932 raced. All of the medalists from 1932 raced. The winner in 1932 was Luigi Beccali of Italy. Jerry Cornes of Great Britain was in 2nd. Phil Edwards of Canada was in 3rd. Glenn Cunningham of the United States was in 4th. Eric Ny of Sweden was in 5th place. Jack Lovelock of New Zealand was in 7th place. All 6 of these people ran in both 1932 and 1936. Sydney Wooderson of Great Britain, Archie San Romani of the United States, and Gene Venzke of the United States also ran in both 1932 and 1936. The world record was 3:48.8 by Bill Bonthron. In the Olympic qualification races, he lost to 3 other American runners. This meant that he was not in the team.

This was the first time that Chile, China, Colombia, Luxembourg, and Peru were in the Olympic games. This was the 10th time that the United States was in the Olympics. The United States was the only nation that was in every men's 1500 metres until 1936.

Competition

The competition had 2 rounds. This format was used since 1908. There were now 4 semifinals rounds again. Each semifinal had either 10 or 11 runners. The 3 fastest runners in each heat went to the final. This meant that there was 12 people in the final round.

Records

The graph shows the world record and Olympic records before the 1996 Summer Olympics.

World record	Bill Bonthron (USA)	3:48.8	Milwaukee, United States	30 June 1934
Olympic record	Luigi Beccali (ITA)	3:51.2	Los Angeles, United States	4 August 1932

Jack Lovelock beat the World Record. His time was 3:47.8. Lovelock and Glenn Cunningham were both under the old world record The 5 fastest runners all beat the old Olympic record.

Schedule

Date	Time	Round
Wednesday, 5 August 1936	17:00	Semifinals
Thursday, 6 August 1936	16:15	Final

Results

Semifinals

The 3 fastest runners in each heat went to the final rounds.

Semifinal 1

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Eric Ny	Sweden	3:54.8	Q
2	Glenn Cunningham	United States	3:54.8	Q
3	Werner Böttcher	Germany	3:55.0	Q
4	Ossi Teileri	Finland	3:55.6
5	Mihály Iglói	Hungary	3:56.0
6	Grigorios Georgakopoulos	Greece	4:01.4
7	René Geeraert	Belgium	Unknown
8	Børge Larsen	Denmark	Unknown
9	Pierre Hemmer	Luxembourg	Unknown
10	Paul Martin	Switzerland	Unknown
—	Kumao Aochi	Japan	DNS

Semifinal 2

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Gene Venzke	United States	4:00.4	Q
2	Jerry Cornes	Great Britain	4:00.6	Q
3	Jack Lovelock	New Zealand	4:00.6	Q
4	Pierre Leichtnam	France	4:01.0
5	Clarke Scholtz	South Africa	4:02.0
6	Kiyoshi Nakamura	Japan	4:04.8
7	Emil Goršek	Yugoslavia	4:13.0
8	Emil Hübscher	Austria	Unknown
9	Jack Liddle	Canada	Unknown
10	Miguel Castro	Chile	Unknown
—	Martti Matilainen	Finland	DNF
—	Pat Boot	New Zealand	DNS
	Stavros Velkopoulos	Greece	DNS

Semifinal 3

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Luigi Beccali	Italy	3:55.6	Q
2	Miklós Szabó	Hungary	3:55.6	Q
3	Phil Edwards	Canada	3:56.2	Q
4	Bobby Graham	Great Britain	3:56.6
5	Bedřich Hošek	Czechoslovakia	3:59.4
6	André Glatigny	France	3:59.6
7	Gerald Backhouse	Australia	Unknown
8	Harry Mehlhose	Germany	Unknown
9	Reginald Uba	Estonia	4:26.2
10	Jia Lianren	Republic of China	Unknown
11	Emilio Torres	Colombia	Unknown
—	Ivan Krevs	Yugoslavia	DNS

Semifinal 4

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Robert Goix	France	3:54.0	Q
2	Archie San Romani	United States	3:55.0	Q
3	Fritz Schaumburg	Germany	3:55.2	Q
4	Joseph Mostert	Belgium	3:56.6
5	Niilo Hartikka	Finland	3:59.0
6	Franz Eichberger	Austria	3:59.2
7	Ragnar Ekholdt	Norway	Unknown
8	Sydney Wooderson	Great Britain	Unknown
9	Hugh Thompson	Canada	Unknown
10	Charles Stein	Luxembourg	Unknown
11	Francisco Váldez	Peru	Unknown
—	Toshinao Tomie	Japan	DNS

Final

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
	Jack Lovelock	New Zealand	3:47.8	WR
	Glenn Cunningham	United States	3:48.4
	Luigi Beccali	Italy	3:49.2
4	Archie San Romani	United States	3:50.0
5	Phil Edwards	Canada	3:50.4
6	Jerry Cornes	Great Britain	3:51.4
7	Miklós Szabó	Hungary	3:53.0
8	Robert Goix	France	3:53.8
9	Gene Venzke	United States	3:55.0
10	Fritz Schaumburg	Germany	3:56.2
11	Eric Ny	Sweden	3:57.6
12	Werner Böttcher	Germany	4:04.2