Events in Sports History in August 1936

XI Summer Olympic Games

Aug 1 XI Summer Olympic Games are opened by Adolph Hitler in Berlin

Aug 2 A Finnish trifecta in the 10,000m final at the Berlin Olympics; Ilmari Salminen beats teammates Arvo Askola and Volmari Iso-Hollo
Aug 2 Americans Cornelius Johnson, Dave Albritton and Delos Thurber sweep the high jump medals at the Berlin Olympics
Aug 2 Tour de France: Sylvère Maes of Belgium wins his second title from Frenchman Antone Magne

Jesse Owens Wins Gold

Aug 3 American sprinter Jesse Owens wins the 100m (10.3 seconds) in front of Adolf Hitler in a famous race at the Berlin Olympics, first of 4 gold medals at the Games

Jesse Owens gets into his stride at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin

Aug 3 Karl Hein (56.49 Olympic record) and Erwin Blask make it a German 1-2 in the hammer throw at the Berlin Olympics
Aug 4 American athlete Jesse Owens wins his 2nd gold medal at the Berlin Olympics; beats German Luz Long in the long jump final with an Olympic record
Aug 4 American Helen Stephens runs 11.5 to win the 100m at the Berlin Olympics, beating controversial intersex athlete Stanisława Walasiewicz of Poland
Aug 5 American athlete Jesse Owens wins 200m in world record time (20.7s), his 3rd gold medal of the Berlin Olympics
Aug 5 Italian athlete Ondina Valla runs a world record 11.6 in the semi finals of the 80m hurdles at the Berlin Olympics; wins final the next day but can't match the time
Aug 5 Ken Carpenter (50.48 Olympic record) and Gordon Dunn make it an American 1-2 in the men’s discus throw at the Berlin Olympics
Aug 6 American athlete Forrest Towns runs world record 14.1 in 110m hurdles semi finals at the Berlin Olympics; later can't match the time but wins the gold medal in the final
Aug 6 Jack Lovelock of New Zealand runs a world record (3:47.8) to win the gold medal in the 1,500m at the Berlin Olympics
Aug 6 Japanese athletes quinella the triple jump at the Berlin Olympics; Naoto Tajima wins gold and Masao Harada silver
Aug 7 A Finnish quinella in the 5,000m final at the Berlin Olympics; Gunnar Höckert runs an Olympic record to beat teammate Lauri Lehtinen
Aug 7 Argentina wins the polo gold medal beating Great Britain 11-0 in the final at the Berlin Olympics; final time the sport is contested at the Olympics
Aug 7 Twenty-two nations line-up as the first basketball competition in the Olympics Games starts in Berlin; Estonia beats France 34-29 in the first game
Aug 8 A Finnish quinella in the 3,000m steeplechase at the Berlin Olympics; Volmari Iso-Hollo beats teammate Kaarlo Tuominen in world record time (9:03.8)
Aug 8 American Glenn Morris' decathlon total of 7,254 points is a world record; teammates Bob Clark & Jack Parker complete US sweep in the gruelling event at the Berlin Olympics
Aug 9 Helen Stephens claims the women's sprint double at the Berlin Olympics having won the 100m and as part of the victorious American 4 x 100m relay team
Aug 9 Hungarian swimmer Ferenc Csik wins 100m freestyle gold medal in 57.6 at the Berlin Olympics, beating Japanese pair Masanori Yusa & Shigeo Arai
Aug 9 Jesse Owens is part of the American 4 x 100m relay team that wins gold in world record (39.8) at the Berlin Olympics; his 4th gold medal of the Games
Aug 9 Korean nationals representing Japan earn medals in the marathon at the Berlin Olympics; Sohn Kee-chung won gold and Nam Sung-yong bronze
Aug 10 First time the Olympic cycling road race is conducted as a mass start event with Frenchmen Robert Charpentier and Guy Lapébie taking gold and silver, and France winning the teams gold medal
Aug 12 After 24 year absence a baseball demonstration game is played between 2 American teams at Berlin Olympics, World Champions beat US Olympics, 6-5
Aug 12 American diver Marjorie Gestring wins 3m springboard gold at the Berlin Olympics, youngest Olympic gold medalist (13 years 268 days)
Aug 12 The gymnastics competition at the Berlin Olympics concludes with Germany dominating, winning 6 of 9 gold medals including the men’s & women’s teams events
Aug 13 Americans Dorothy Poynton-Hil and Velma Dunn take the gold and silver medals in the 10m platform diving at the Berlin Olympics
Aug 13 Nida Senff and Rie Mastenbroek make it a Dutch 1-2 in the women’s 100m backstroke final at the Berlin Olympics
Aug 13 Rie Mastenbroek of the Netherlands swims an Olympic record 1:05.9 to win the women’s 100m freestyle at the Berlin Olympics, beating Jeannette Campbell of Argentina by 0:05
Aug 14 American swimmers Adolph Kiefer and Al Vande Veghe quinella the 100m backstroke at the Berlin Olympics
Aug 14 The Berlin Olympics rowing competition concludes with Germany winning 5 of 7 gold medals, although the United States wins the coveted eights gold
Aug 14 United States beats Canada, 19-8 in poor conditions outdoors to win the gold medal in the inaugural men's basketball competition at the Olympic Games in Berlin
Aug 15 Americans make a clean sweep of the 3m diving medals via Marjorie Gestring, Katherine Rawls and Dorothy Poynton-Hill at the Berlin Olympics
Aug 15 Annibale Frossi scores twice as Italy beats Austria 2-1 in extra time in the soccer final at the Berlin Olympics

A Kiss For Adolf Hitler

Aug 15 Carla de Vries, an American tourist at the swimming event of the Berlin Olympics finds Adolf Hitler “so friendly and gracious” she shakes his hand and gives him a kiss

A kiss for a surprised Fuehrer. Photo: rarehistoricalphotos.com

Aug 15 Marshall Wayne and Elbert Root make it an American 1-2 in the 10m platform diving at the Berlin Olympics
Aug 15 The Berlin Olympic fencing competition concludes with Italy winning 4 of the 7 gold medals and Hungary taking the other 3
Aug 16 The Berlin Olympic equestrian competition concludes with Germany winning all 6 gold medals in an unprecedented team achievement
Aug 16 XI Summer Olympic Games close in Berlin

Baseball Record

Aug 23 17-year-old Cleveland Indians future Baseball HOF pitcher Bob Feller's first MLB game as a starter; strikes out 15 St Louis Browns in 4-1 win at League Park, Cleveland