Swimming at the 1936 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metre freestyle

Men's 100 metre freestyle
at the Games of the XI Olympiad
Men's 100 metre freestyle; at the Games of the XI Olympiad
	Swimming at the 1936 Olympics
Venue	Olympiapark Schwimmstadion Berlin
Dates	8–9 August
Competitors	45 from 23 nations
Winning time	57.6
Medalists
	← 1932 1948 →

The men's 100 metre freestyle was a swimming event held as part of the swimming at the 1936 Summer Olympics programme.^[1] It was the ninth appearance of the event, which had not been featured only at the 1900 Games. The competition was held on Saturday and Sunday, 8 and 9 August 1936. Forty-five swimmers from 23 nations competed. Nations had been limited to three swimmers each since the 1924 Games. The event was won by Ferenc Csik of Hungary, the nation's first victory in the event since 1904 and third overall (second all-time behind the United States with 5). For the second consecutive Games, Japan took two medals in the 100 metre freestyle, this time silver (Masanori Yusa) and bronze (Shigeo Arai). The United States' seven-Games medal streak in the event ended as the nation's best result was sixth place by Peter Fick.

Background

This was the ninth appearance of the men's 100 metre freestyle. The event has been held at every Summer Olympics except 1900 (when the shortest freestyle was the 200 metres), though the 1904 version was measured in yards rather than metres.^[2]

None of the six finalists from 1932 returned. American Peter Fick, the world record holder, was a slight favorite. The Japanese team was strong once again. European champion Ferenc Csik of Hungary was considered a tier below the Americans and Japanese.^[2]

Bermuda, Bolivia, the Republic of China, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, and Peru each made their debut in the event. The United States made its ninth appearance, having competed at each edition of the event to date.

Competition format

This freestyle swimming competition used a three-round (quarterfinals, semifinals, final) format. The advancement rule was a modification of the one used since 1912, allowing the top swimmers in each race plus one or more wild cards to advance. For this event, the top two in each preliminary heat plus the next two fastest swimmers would advance to the semifinals; the top three in each semifinal plus the fastest fourth-place swimmer would move on to the final. There were 7 heats of between 6 and 8 swimmers, allowing 16 swimmers to advance to the semifinals. The 2 semifinals had 8 swimmers each; 7 advanced to the final.

Each race involved two lengths of the 50-metre pool.

Records

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

World record	Peter Fick (USA)	56.4	New Haven, United States	11 February 1936
Olympic record	Yasuji Miyazaki (JPN)	58.0	Los Angeles, United States	6 August 1932

Peter Fick set a new Olympic record in the first heat with 57.6 seconds. In the fifth heat Masaharu Taguchi bettered the Olympic record with 57.5 seconds. Masanori Yusa equalized this record in the second semifinal with 57.5 seconds.

Schedule

Date	Time	Round
Saturday, 8 August 1936	9:00 15:00	Heats Semifinals
Sunday, 9 August 1936	15:20	Final

Results

Heats

Saturday 8 August 1936: The fastest two in each heat and the next two fastest from across the heats advanced to the semi-finals.

Heat 1

Rank	Swimmer	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Peter Fick	United States	57.6	Q, OR
2	Ferenc Csik	Hungary	58.3	Q
3	Romund Gabrielsen	Great Britain	1:01.2
4	Bob Hamerton	Canada	1:02.1
5	Paulo Tarrto	Brazil	1:02.6
6	Mahmoud Kadri	Egypt	1:03.8
7	Arturo Álvarez	Peru	1:04.9
8	Charlie Chan	Republic of China	1:06.5

Heat 2

Rank	Swimmer	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Masanori Yusa	Japan	57.8	Q
2	Arthur Highland	United States	59.9	Q
3	William Kendall	Australia	1:01.0	q
4	Egon Roolaid	Estonia	1:01.5
5	René Cavalero	France	1:02.2
6	Sjoerd Mooi Wilten	Netherlands	1:03.4
7	Alberto Conrad	Bolivia	1:17.5

Heat 3

Rank	Swimmer	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Mostyn Ffrench-Williams	Great Britain	1:00.7	Q
2	Jikirum Adjaluddin	Philippines	1:01.0	Q
3	Heiko Schwartz	Germany	1:01.8
4	Munroe Bourne	Canada	1:02.4
5	Isaac Moraes	Brazil	1:03.5
6	Günther Zobernig	Austria	1:03.9

Heat 4

Rank	Swimmer	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Shigeo Arai	Japan	57.7	Q
2	Helmuth Fischer	Germany	57.9	Q
3	Ödön Gróf	Hungary	1:01.3
4	Leonard Spence	Bermuda	1:01.9
5	Claude Desusclade	France	1:07.2
6	Rikhardos Brousalis	Greece	1:07.5

Heat 5

Rank	Swimmer	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Masaharu Taguchi	Japan	57.5	Q, OR
2	John Christensen	Denmark	1:01.1	Q
3	George Larson	Canada	1:01.5
4	Zaki Saad al-Dine	Egypt	1:03.7
5	Juan Paz	Peru	1:05.6
6	Spyridon Mavrogiorgos	Greece	1:08.2

Heat 6

Rank	Swimmer	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Draško Vilfan	Yugoslavia	1:00.5	Q
2	Hermann Heibel	Germany	1:01.4	Q
3	Frederick Dove	Great Britain	1:01.6
4	José Obial	Philippines	1:01.7
5	Leônidas da Silva	Brazil	1:03.3
6	John Young	Bermuda	1:07.8

Heat 7

Rank	Swimmer	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Arthur Lindegren	United States	58.3	Q
2	Oszkár Abay-Nemes	Hungary	1:00.2	Q
3	Heikki Hietanen	Finland	1:01.0	q
4	Piet Stam	Netherlands	1:01.3
5	Poul Petersen	Denmark	1:01.6
6	Roger Zirilli	Switzerland	1:04.1

Semifinals

Saturday 8 August 1936: The fastest three in each semi-final and the fastest fourth-placed from across the heats advanced to the final.

Semifinal 1

Rank	Swimmer	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Masaharu Taguchi	Japan	57.9	Q
2	Ferenc Csik	Hungary	58.1	Q
3	Peter Fick	United States	58.2	Q
4	Helmuth Fischer	Germany	58.7	q
5	Heikki Hietanen	Finland	1:00.5
	Draško Vilfan	Yugoslavia	1:00.5
	Jikirum Adjaluddin	Philippines	1:00.5
8	Mostyn Ffrench-Williams	Great Britain	1:01.0

Semifinal 2

Rank	Swimmer	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Masanori Yusa	Japan	57.5	Q, =OR
2	Shigeo Arai	Japan	57.9	Q
3	Arthur Lindegren	United States	58.7	Q
4	Arthur Highland	United States	59.4
5	William Kendall	Australia	59.9
6	Hermann Heibel	Germany	1:00.3
7	Oszkár Abay-Nemes	Hungary	1:01.1
8	John Christensen	Denmark	1:01.6

Final

Sunday 9 August 1936:

Rank	Swimmer	Nation	Time
	Ferenc Csik	Hungary	57.6
	Masanori Yusa	Japan	57.9
	Shigeo Arai	Japan	58.0
4	Masaharu Taguchi	Japan	58.1
5	Helmuth Fischer	Germany	59.3
6	Peter Fick	United States	59.7
7	Arthur Lindegren	United States	59.9

Results summary

Rank	Swimmer	Nation	Heats	Semifinals	Final	Notes
	Ferenc Csik	Hungary	58.3	58.1	57.6
	Masanori Yusa	Japan	57.8	57.5	57.9	=OR
	Shigeo Arai	Japan	57.7	57.9	58.0
4	Masaharu Taguchi	Japan	57.5	57.9	58.1	OR
5	Helmuth Fischer	Germany	57.9	58.7	59.3
6	Peter Fick	United States	57.6	58.2	59.7
7	Arthur Lindegren	United States	58.3	58.7	59.9
8	Arthur Highland	United States	59.9	59.4	Did not advance
9	William Kendall	Australia	1:01.0	59.9	Did not advance
10	Hermann Heibel	Germany	1:01.4	1:00.3	Did not advance
11	Heikki Hietanen	Finland	1:01.0	1:00.5	Did not advance
	Draško Vilfan	Yugoslavia	1:00.5	1:00.5	Did not advance
	Jikirum Adjaluddin	Philippines	1:01.0	1:00.5	Did not advance
14	Mostyn Ffrench-Williams	Great Britain	1:00.7	1:01.0	Did not advance
15	Oszkár Abay-Nemes	Hungary	1:00.2	1:01.1	Did not advance
16	John Christensen	Denmark	1:01.1	1:01.6	Did not advance
17	Romund Gabrielsen	Great Britain	1:01.2	did not advance
18	Ödön Gróf	Hungary	1:01.3	did not advance
18	Piet Stam	Netherlands	1:01.3	did not advance
20	George Larson	Canada	1:01.5	did not advance
20	Egon Roolaid	Estonia	1:01.5	did not advance
22	Frederick Dove	Great Britain	1:01.6	did not advance
22	Poul Petersen	Denmark	1:01.6	did not advance
24	José Obial	Philippines	1:01.7	did not advance
25	Heiko Schwartz	Germany	1:01.8	did not advance
26	Leonard Spence	Bermuda	1:01.9	did not advance
27	Bob Hamerton	Canada	1:02.1	did not advance
28	René Cavalero	France	1:02.2	did not advance
29	Munroe Bourne	Canada	1:02.4	did not advance
30	Paulo Tarrto	Brazil	1:02.6	did not advance
31	Leônidas da Silva	Brazil	1:03.3	did not advance
32	Sjoerd Mooi Wilten	Netherlands	1:03.4	did not advance
33	Isaac Moraes	Brazil	1:03.5	did not advance
34	Zaki Saad al-Dine	Egypt	1:03.7	did not advance
35	Mahmoud Kadri	Egypt	1:03.8	did not advance
36	Günther Zobernig	Austria	1:03.9	did not advance
37	Roger Zirilli	Switzerland	1:04.1	did not advance
38	Arturo Álvarez	Peru	1:04.9	did not advance
39	Juan Paz	Peru	1:05.6	did not advance
40	Charlie Chan	Republic of China	1:06.5	did not advance
41	Claude Desusclade	France	1:07.2	did not advance
42	Rikhardos Brousalis	Greece	1:07.5	did not advance
43	John Young	Bermuda	1:07.8	did not advance
44	Spyridon Mavrogiorgos	Greece	1:08.2	did not advance
45	Alberto Conrad	Bolivia	1:17.5	did not advance