1932 Summer Olympics

Games of the X Olympiad

Host city	Los Angeles, California, United States
Nations participating	37
Athletes participating	1,332 (1,206 men, 126 women)
Events	117 in 14 sports
Opening ceremony	July 30
Closing ceremony	August 14
Officially opened by	Vice President Charles Curtis
Athlete's Oath	George Calnan
Stadium	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum

The 1932 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the X Olympiad, was a major worldwide multi-athletic event which was celebrated in 1932 in Los Angeles, California, United States. No other cities made a bid to host these Olympics. Held during the worldwide Great Depression, many nations and athletes were unable to pay for the trip to Los Angeles. Fewer than half the participants of the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam returned to compete in 1932. Even U.S. President Herbert Hoover skipped the event.^[1]

The organizing committee put no record of the finances of the Games in their report, though contemporary newspapers reported that the Games had made a profit of US$1,000,000.^[1]

Host city selection

The selection process for the 1932 Summer Olympics consisted of one bid, from Los Angeles, which ultimately hosted the games. The selection was made at the 23rd IOC Session in Rome, Italy, in 1923.^[2]

Highlights

The Australian Olympic Team at the Olympic Stadium, Los Angeles, 1932

• An Olympic Village was built for the first time, in Baldwin Hills, occupied by the male athletes.^[3] Female athletes were housed at the Chapman Park Hotel on Wilshire Boulevard.
• The victory podium was used for the first time.^[4]
• The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum was known in 1932 as Olympic Stadium.
• Tenth Street, a major thoroughfare in Los Angeles, was renamed Olympic Boulevard in honor of the Games of the Tenth Olympiad.
• Babe Didrikson won two gold medals in the javelin and the hurdles event. She also competed in a jump-off for a silver in the high jump. Her technique in the jump-off was ruled illegal, leaving Didrikson with second place.
• In field hockey, only three nations took part. The host nation lost both matches, 1-24 to India and 2-9 to Japan, but still won a bronze medal.
• Poland's Stanisława Walasiewicz won the gold medal in the women's 100 m; she would also win the silver medal in the event four years later. After her death in 1980, it was discovered that she was intersex and would have been ineligible to participate.
• The executive council of the IAAF suspended Paavo Nurmi from international amateur athletics four months before the Games, pending an investigation into his amateur status.^[5] Less than three days before the 10,000 m, the seven members of the council formed a special commission and rejected his entries.^[6]
• Eddie Tolan won both the 100 m and 200 m sprint events.
• Romeo Neri won three gold medals in gymnastics.
• Helene Madison won three gold medals in swimming, while the Japanese upset the men's events and took all but one title.
• Takeichi Nishi (Baron Nishi) was the gold medalist with his horse Uranus in the equestrian show jumping individual event. Nishi's gold medal is Japan's only gold medal in the equestrian event to this day. Nishi would later die in 1945 as an officer stationed in the defense of the island of Iwo Jima, and as such is a main character in Clint Eastwood's film, Letters from Iwo Jima.
• Kusuo Kitamura won the gold medal in the men's 1500 meter freestyle swimming race. He was and continues to be the youngest ever male swimmer to win a gold medal at the Olympic Games.
• Dunc Gray won Australia's first cycling gold medal; he set a world record of 1m 13s in the 1000 time trial. The Dunc Gray Velodrome, built for the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, was named after him.
• Due to an official's error, the 3,000 m steeplechase went for 3,460 m, or one extra lap.^[7]

Medals awarded

117 events in 20 disciplines, comprising 14 sports, were part of the Olympic program in 1932. In one of two Equestrian jumping events (team competitions) no medals were awarded. The number of events in each discipline is noted in parentheses.

Nishi with Olympic steed, Uranus

Demonstration sports

• American football
• Lacrosse

Art

See Art competitions at the 1932 Summer Olympics for details of the art competitions held at the games, in which medals were awarded in five categories (architecture, literature, music, painting, and sculpture), for works inspired by sport-related themes.

Venues

The following venues hosted events at the 1932 games:^[8][9]

• Exposition Park (known as Olympic Park for the Games) - equestrian
  • Olympic Stadium - athletics, American football, lacrosse, equestrian (eventing, jumping) field hockey, gymnastics, opening and closing ceremonies (capacity: 105,000)
  • Swimming Stadium - diving, modern pentathlon (swimming), swimming, water polo (capacity: 10,000)
  • 160th Regiment State Armory - fencing, modern pentathlon (fencing) (capacity: 1,800)
  • Museum of History, Science, and Art - art events
• Olympic Auditorium - boxing, wrestling, weightlifting
• Rose Bowl in Pasadena - cycling (track)
• Riverside Drive, Griffith Park - 50 km walk
• Los Angeles Harbor - sailing
• Long Beach Marine Stadium - rowing (capacity: 17,000)
• Los Angeles Police Pistol Range - shooting, modern pentathlon (shooting)
• Sunset Fields Golf Club - modern pentathlon (running)
• Riviera Country Club - equestrian (dressage, eventing), modern pentathlon (riding) (capacity: 9,500)
• Los Angeles Avenue, Vineyard Avenue, and Pacific Coast Highway - cycling (road)
• Westchester - equestrian (cross-country riding)

Participating nations

participants (blue=first-time)

Number of athletes

A total of 37 nations were represented at the 1932 Games. Colombia made its first appearance at the Olympic Games, and the Republic of China (with a single athlete) competed for the first time after its failed appearance at the 1924 Games.

Medal count

These are the top ten nations that won medals at the 1932 Games.

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	United States (host nation)	41	32	30	103
2	Italy	12	12	12	36
3	France	10	5	4	19
4	Sweden	9	5	9	23
5	Japan	7	7	4	18
6	Hungary	6	4	5	15
7	Finland	5	8	12	25
8	Great Britain	4	7	5	16
9	Germany	3	12	5	20
10	Australia	3	1	1	5

See also

• 1932 Winter Olympics
• Olympic Games celebrated in the United States
  • 1904 Summer Olympics – St. Louis
  • 1932 Summer Olympics – Los Angeles
  • 1932 Winter Olympics – Lake Placid
  • 1960 Winter Olympics – Squaw Valley
  • 1980 Winter Olympics – Lake Placid
  • 1984 Summer Olympics – Los Angeles
  • 1996 Summer Olympics – Atlanta
  • 2002 Winter Olympics – Salt Lake City

• Summer Olympic Games
• Olympic Games
• International Olympic Committee
• List of IOC country codes

• Parley Parker Christensen, Los Angeles City Council member who blocked payment for sending 1932 Olympic flag to Berlin for the 1936 games.

Notes

References

• "Los Angeles 1932". Olympic.org. International Olympic Committee. 
• "Results and Medalists". Olympic.org. International Olympic Committee. 

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 1932 Summer Olympics.

• "Los Angeles 1932". Olympic.org. International Olympic Committee. 

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