# Athletics at the 1932 Summer Olympics

At the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, 29 athletics events were contested. It was the first time the 50 kilometres race walk appeared in the athletic program at the Games. This was the second time women's events in athletics were included in the Olympic Games program and the first time that women competed in the javelin throw and 80m hurdles at the Olympics. There was a total of 386 participants from 34 countries competing.
The athletics events took place at Los Angeles Olympic Stadium, now the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

## Medal summary

| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | United States (USA) | 16 | 13 | 6 | 35 |
| 2 | Finland (FIN) | 3 | 4 | 4 | 11 |
| 3 | Great Britain (GBR) | 2 | 4 | 2 | 8 |
| 4 | Poland (POL) | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| 5 | Ireland (IRL) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 6 | Canada (CAN) | 1 | 3 | 5 | 9 |
| 7 | Japan (JPN) | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| 8 | Italy (ITA) | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| 9 | Argentina (ARG) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 10 | Germany (GER) | 0 | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| 11 | Latvia (LAT) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 11 | Sweden (SWE) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 13 | Czechoslovakia (TCH) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 13 | France (FRA) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 13 | Philippines (PHI) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 13 | South Africa (RSA) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Totals (16 entries) | Totals (16 entries) | 29 | 29 | 29 | 87 |

### Men

| Event | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| 100 metres details | Eddie Tolan United States | 10.3 | Ralph Metcalfe United States | 10.3 | Arthur Jonath Germany | 10.4 |
| 200 metres details | Eddie Tolan United States | 21.2 | George Simpson United States | 21.4 | Ralph Metcalfe United States | 21.5 |
| 400 metres details | Bill Carr United States | 46.2 | Ben Eastman United States | 46.4 | Alex Wilson Canada | 47.4 |
| 800 metres details | Tommy Hampson Great Britain | 1:49.7 | Alex Wilson Canada | 1:49.9 | Phil Edwards Canada | 1:51.5 |
| 1500 metres details | Luigi Beccali Italy | 3:51.2 | Jerry Cornes Great Britain | 3:52.6 | Phil Edwards Canada | 3:52.8 |
| 5000 metres details | Lauri Lehtinen Finland | 14:30.0 | Ralph Hill United States | 14:30.0 | Lauri Virtanen Finland | 14:44.0 |
| 10,000 metres details | Janusz Kusociński Poland | 30:11.4 | Volmari Iso-Hollo Finland | 30:12.6 | Lauri Virtanen Finland | 30:35.0 |
| 110 metres hurdles details | George Saling United States | 14.6 | Percy Beard United States | 14.7 | Donald Finlay Great Britain | 14.8 |
| 400 metres hurdles details | Bob Tisdall Ireland | 51.8 | Glenn Hardin United States | 51.9 | Morgan Taylor United States | 52.0 |
| 3000 metres steeplechase details | Volmari Iso-Hollo Finland | 10:33.4 | Thomas Evenson Great Britain | 10:46.0 | Joe McCluskey United States | 10:46.2 |
| 4 × 100 metres relay details | United States (USA) Bob Kiesel Hector Dyer Emmett Toppino Frank Wykoff | 40.0 | Germany (GER) Friedrich Hendrix Erich Borchmeyer Arthur Jonath Helmut Körnig | 40.9 | Italy (ITA) Giuseppe Castelli Gabriele Salviati Ruggero Maregatti Edgardo Toetti | 41.2 |
| 4 × 400 metres relay details | United States (USA) Ivan Fuqua Ed Ablowich Karl Warner Bill Carr | 3:08.2 | Great Britain (GBR) Crew Stoneley Tommy Hampson David Burghley Godfrey Rampling | 3:11.2 | Canada (CAN) James Ball Ray Lewis Phil Edwards Alex Wilson | 3:12.8 |
| Marathon details | Juan Carlos Zabala Argentina | 2:31:36 | Sam Ferris Great Britain | 2:31:55 | Armas Toivonen Finland | 2:32:12 |
| 50 kilometres walk details | Tommy Green Great Britain | 4:50:10 | Jānis Daliņš Latvia | 4:57:20 | Ugo Frigerio Italy | 4:59:06 |
| High jump details | Duncan McNaughton Canada | 1.97 m | Bob Van Osdel United States | 1.97 m | Simeon Toribio Philippines | 1.97 m |
| Pole vault details | Bill Miller United States | 4.315 m | Shuhei Nishida Japan | 4.30 m | George Jefferson United States | 4.20 m |
| Long jump details | Ed Gordon United States | 7.64 m | Lambert Redd United States | 7.60 m | Chuhei Nambu Japan | 7.45 m |
| Triple jump details | Chuhei Nambu Japan | 15.72 m | Erik Svensson Sweden | 15.32 m | Kenkichi Oshima Japan | 15.12 m |
| Shot put details | Leo Sexton United States | 16.00 m | Harlow Rothert United States | 15.67 m | František Douda Czechoslovakia | 15.61 m |
| Discus throw details | John Anderson United States | 49.49 m | Henri LaBorde United States | 48.47 m | Paul Winter France | 47.85 m |
| Hammer throw details | Pat O'Callaghan Ireland | 53.92 m | Ville Pörhölä Finland | 52.27 m | Peter Zaremba United States | 50.33 m |
| Javelin throw details | Matti Järvinen Finland | 72.71 m | Matti Sippala Finland | 69.80 m | Eino Penttilä Finland | 68.70 m |
| Decathlon details | James Bausch United States | 8462.23 | Akilles Järvinen Finland | 8292.48 | Wolrad Eberle Germany | 8030.80 |

### Women

| Games | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| 100 metres details | Stanisława Walasiewicz Poland | Hilda Strike Canada | Wilhelmina von Bremen United States |
| 80 metres hurdles details | Babe Didrikson United States | Evelyne Hall United States | Marjorie Clark South Africa |
| 4 × 100 metres relay details | United States (USA) Mary Carew Evelyn Furtsch Annette Rogers Wilhelmina von Bremen | Canada (CAN) Mary Frizzel Mildred Fizzell Lillian Palmer Hilda Strike | Great Britain (GBR) Nellie Halstead Eileen Hiscock Gwendoline Porter Violet Webb |
| High jump details | Jean Shiley United States | Babe Didrikson United States | Eva Dawes Canada |
| Discus throw details | Lillian Copeland United States | Ruth Osburn United States | Jadwiga Wajs Poland |
| Javelin throw details | Babe Didrikson United States | Ellen Braumüller Germany | Tilly Fleischer Germany |

## Participating Nations

* Argentina (11)
* Australia (4)
* Austria (4)
* Brazil (21)
* Canada (29)
* Republic of China (1)
* Colombia (1)
* Cuba (3)
* Czechoslovakia (3)
* Denmark (2)
* Estonia (1)
* Finland (21)
* France (12)
* Germany (27)
* Great Britain (25)
* Greece (9)
* Haiti (2)
* Hungary (6)
* India (4)
* Ireland (4)
* Italy (21)
* Japan (34)
* Latvia (2)
* Mexico (27)
* Netherlands (7)
* New Zealand (6)
* Norway (3)
* Philippines (1)
* Poland (7)
* Portugal (1)
* South Africa (4)
* Sweden (9)
* Switzerland (3)
* United States (79)
* Yugoslavia (1)

## Records broken

Of the 29 events competed new Olympic records were set in all but three: men's long jump, high jump and hammer throw. World records were set in 10 events.

### Men's world records

| Event | Date | Round | Name | Nationality | Result |
| 400 metres | 5 August | Final | Bill Carr | United States | 46.2 |
| 800 metres | 2 August | Final | Tommy Hampson | Great Britain | 1:49.8 |
| 4 × 100 metres relay | 7 August | Final | Bob Kiesel Hector Dyer Emmett Toppino Frank Wykoff | United States | 40.0 |
| 4 × 400 metres relay | 7 August | Final | Ivan Fuqua Ed Ablowich Karl Warner Bill Carr | United States | 3:08.2 |
| Triple jump | 4 August | Final | Chuhei Nambu | Japan | 15.72 m |
| Decathlon | 6 August | Final | James Bausch | United States | 8462.235 |

### Women's world records

| Event | Date | Round | Name | Nationality | Result |
| 100 metres | 1 August | Heats | Stanisława Walasiewicz | Poland | 11.9 |
| 80 metres hurdles | 4 August | Final | Babe Didrikson | United States | 11.7 |
| 80 metres hurdles | 4 August | Final | Evelyne Hall | United States | 11.7 |
| 4 × 100 metres relay | 7 August | Final | Mary Carew Evelyn Furtsch Annette Rogers Wilhelmina von Bremen | United States | 47.0 |
| 4 × 100 metres relay | 7 August | Final | Mary Frizzel Mildred Fizzell Lillian Palmer Hilda Strike | Canada | 47.0 |
| High jump | 7 August | Final | Jean Shiley | United States | 1.65 m |
| High jump | 7 August | Final | Babe Didrikson | United States | 1.65 m |