# Athletics at the 1936 Summer Olympics – Men's 800 metres

The men's 800 metres event at the 1936 Summer Olympic Games took place between August 2 and August 4. Forty-two athletes from 23 nations competed. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The final was won by American John Woodruff.
Woodruff's win broke a streak of four British victories in the 800 metres and started a streak of four American victories. (Great Britain missed the podium entirely.) It was the United States' first title in the event since 1912, and fourth overall. Mario Lanzi's silver was Italy's second medal in the event, after another silver in 1908. Phil Edwards repeated his bronze performance from 1932, becoming the third man to win a second medal in the 800 metres.

## Summary

With all runners starting from a crouch position, in the middle of the straightaway, the only returning medalist from 1932, Phil Edwards, rushed to the lead. Down the backstretch he was joined by John Woodruff, who was among the favorites to win the race despite his inexperience. For the second day in a row, the German home crowd was seeing two black North Americans leading a final after Jesse Owens and Ralph Metcalfe winning the 100 metres. Along the home stretch, Kazimierz Kucharski came along the outside, with Brian MacCabe in tow, effectively boxing Woodruff on the rail. Sensing the danger, Woodruff slowed, dropping to sixth place but giving himself free running room. With a long relaxed stride, the tall Woodruff ran around the outside and past Edwards into the lead. Heading into the final turn, Edwards again accelerated into the lead, but Woodruff stayed with him as both separated from Kucharski and Chuck Hornbostel. With the trailers struggling, a path down the rail opened up for Mario Lanzi to run past them on the inside. Through the turn, Edwards was unable to break Woodruff. Coming off the turn, it was Woodruff's long stride that took the advantage over the smaller Edwards. Now it was Edwards who was struggling as Woodruff pulled away with only half the straightaway to the finish. Lanzi seized the opportunity to run past Edwards on the outside, but there was no time to run after Woodruff.

## Background

This was the 10th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Three finalists from 1932 returned: bronze medalist Phil Edwards of Canada (who was also the fourth-place finisher in 1928), sixth-place finisher Chuck Hornbostel of the United States, and seventh-place finisher Jack Powell of Great Britain. Along with Edwards, Rudolf Harbig of Germany and John Woodruff of the United States were the favorites.
Peru and Yugoslavia appeared in the event for the first time. Great Britain and the United States each made their ninth appearance, tied for the most among all nations.

## Competition format

There were again enough competitors to return to the three-round format introduced in 1912 (after a two-round version in 1932). There were six first-round heats, each with between 6 and 8 athletes; the top four runners in each heat advanced to the semifinals. There were three semifinals with 8 athletes each; the top three runners in each semifinal advanced to the nine-man final.

## Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in minutes) prior to the 1936 Summer Olympics.
| World record | Ben Eastman (USA) | 1:49.8y | Princeton, United States | 16 June 1934 |
| Olympic record | Tommy Hampson (GBR) | 1:49.7 | Los Angeles, United States | 2 August 1932 |
No world or Olympic records were set during the competition.

## Schedule

| Date | Time | Round |
| Sunday, 2 August 1936 | 16:00 | Round 1 |
| Monday, 3 August 1936 | 17:15 | Semifinals |
| Tuesday, 4 August 1936 | 17:45 | Final |

## Results
### Round 1

The fastest four runners in each of the six heats advanced to the semifinal round.

#### Heat 1

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Phil Edwards | Canada | 1:53.7 | Q |
| 2 | Chuck Hornbostel | United States | 1:53.7 | Q |
| 3 | Jean Verhaert | Belgium | 1:54.3 | Q |
| 4 | Ferenc Temesvári | Hungary | 1:55.0 | Q |
| 5 | Pierre Hemmer | Luxembourg | 1:56.3 | |
| 6 | Rudolf Harbig | Germany | 1:56.8 | |
| 7 | Francisco Váldez | Peru | Unknown | |
| 8 | Stavros Velkopoulos | Greece | Unknown | |
| — | Erik Wennberg | Sweden | DNS | |

#### Heat 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Harry Williamson | United States | 1:56.2 | Q |
| 2 | Ab Conway | Canada | 1:56.2 | Q |
| 3 | Pat Boot | New Zealand | 1:56.6 | Q |
| 4 | Emil Hübscher | Austria | 1:57.3 | Q |
| 5 | Emil Goršek | Yugoslavia | 1:59.5 | |
| 6 | Carlos Marcenaro | Peru | 2:00.8 | |
| — | Abu Al-Yazid El-Halawani | Egypt | DNS | |
| — | René Morel | France | DNS | |
| — | Ossi Teileri | Finland | DNS | |

#### Heat 3

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Brian MacCabe | Great Britain | 1:54.5 | Q |
| 2 | Raymond Petit | France | 1:54.8 | Q |
| 3 | Hjalmar Johannessen | Norway | 1:54.9 | Q |
| 4 | Ewald Mertens | Germany | 1:55.1 | Q |
| 5 | Clarke Scholtz | South Africa | 1:57.6 | |
| 6 | Toshinao Tomie | Japan | 1:59.9 | |
| 7 | Stanislav Otáhal | Czechoslovakia | Unknown | |
| 8 | Gyan Bhalla | India | Unknown | |
| — | Fritz Sollberger | Switzerland | DNS | |

#### Heat 4

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Gerald Backhouse | Australia | 1:57.7 | Q |
| 2 | Miklós Szabó | Hungary | 1:57.8 | Q |
| 3 | John Woodruff | United States | 1:58.7 | Q |
| 4 | Frank Handley | Great Britain | 1:58.9 | Q |
| 5 | Evžen Rošický | Czechoslovakia | 1:59.5 | |
| 6 | Paul Martin | Switzerland | 2:00.0 | |
| 7 | Charles Stein | Luxembourg | Unknown | |
| — | Francisc Nemeș | Romania | DNS | |
| — | Eric Ny | Sweden | DNS | |

#### Heat 5

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Jack Powell | Great Britain | 1:56.0 | Q |
| 2 | Mario Lanzi | Italy | 1:56.1 | Q |
| 3 | Franz Eichberger | Austria | 1:56.3 | Q |
| 4 | József Vadas | Hungary | 1:56.5 | Q |
| 5 | Willie Botha | South Africa | 1:57.0 | |
| 6 | Grigorios Georgakopoulos | Greece | 1:57.3 | |
| 7 | Jack Liddle | Canada | Unknown | |
| — | Miguel Castro | Chile | DNS | |
| — | Luis Pratsmasó | Spain | DNS | |

#### Heat 6

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Juan Carlos Anderson | Argentina | 1:55.1 | Q |
| 2 | Kazimierz Kucharski | Poland | 1:55.7 | Q |
| 3 | Wolfgang Dessecker | Germany | 1:56.0 | Q |
| 4 | René Soulier | France | 1:56.1 | Q |
| 5 | William Lindeque | South Africa | 1:56.4 | |
| 6 | Kumao Aochi | Japan | 1:56.8 | |
| — | Jia Lianren | Republic of China | DNS | |
| — | Karlo Nikhazi | Yugoslavia | DNS | |
| — | Enrique Piferrer | Spain | DNS | |

### Semifinals

The fastest three runners in each of the three heats advanced to the final round.

#### Semifinal 1

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | John Woodruff | United States | 1:52.7 | Q |
| 2 | Kazimierz Kucharski | Poland | 1:54.7 | Q |
| 3 | Juan Carlos Anderson | Argentina | 1:54.8 | Q |
| 4 | Miklós Szabó | Hungary | 1:55.1 | |
| 5 | Wolfgang Dessecker | Germany | 1:55.3 | |
| 6 | Franz Eichberger | Austria | 1:56.2 | |
| 7 | Pat Boot | New Zealand | Unknown | |
| 8 | Frank Handley | Great Britain | Unknown | |

#### Semifinal 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Harry Williamson | United States | 1:53.1 | Q |
| 2 | Gerald Backhouse | Australia | 1:53.2 | Q |
| 3 | Phil Edwards | Canada | 1:53.2 | Q |
| 4 | Jack Powell | Great Britain | 1:54.8 | |
| 5 | Ewald Mertens | Germany | 1:54.9 | |
| 6 | René Soulier | France | 1:56.8 | |
| 7 | Emil Hübscher | Austria | Unknown | |
| 8 | József Vadas | Hungary | Unknown | |

#### Semifinal 3

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Chuck Hornbostel | United States | 1:53.2 | Q |
| 2 | Mario Lanzi | Italy | 1:54.1 | Q |
| 3 | Brian MacCabe | Great Britain | 1:55.4 | Q |
| 4 | Raymond Petit | France | 1:55.7 | |
| 5 | Ab Conway | Canada | 1:55.9 | |
| 6 | Hjalmar Johannessen | Norway | 1:56.0 | |
| 7 | Ferenc Temesvári | Hungary | Unknown | |
| 8 | Jean Verhaert | Belgium | Unknown | |

### Final

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time |
| | John Woodruff | United States | 1:52.9 |
| | Mario Lanzi | Italy | 1:53.3 |
| | Phil Edwards | Canada | 1:53.6 |
| 4 | Kazimierz Kucharski | Poland | 1:53.8 |
| 5 | Chuck Hornbostel | United States | 1:54.6 |
| 6 | Harry Williamson | United States | 1:55.8 |
| 7 | Juan Carlos Anderson | Argentina | Unknown |
| 8 | Gerald Backhouse | Australia | Unknown |
| 9 | Brian MacCabe | Great Britain | Unknown |