Berlin 1936 Olympics (Nazis olympics)

THE INFORMATION
In 1936 the XI Olympiad was held in Berlin, Germany. This was one of the most controversial Olympics in history.

This Olympic games hosted 3963 athletes (3632 men, 331 women) from 49 different nations. Already you can see that the majority in athletes are men. These athletes were challenged with 129 events and 19 sports. If you placed first, second or third, you were awarded with a gold, silver or bronze medal. Berlin had 388 of these medals given away 130 gold, 128 silver and 130 bronze.

THE SIGNIFICANT FACTORS
Now to the controversial history of this Olympics. The 11Th Olympiad was held in the time of Adolf Hitlers leadership of the Germans. Adolf Hitler thought that the Summer Olympics was the perfect time to show the Nazi German superiority over every other nation in the world and especially to promote Aryans ( Non Jewish, Caucasian, especially of Nordic stock: Blond hair, Blue eyes and an elongated head). But his attempt to use the games to prove Aryan superiority failed miserably, when a young African American Athlete - Jesse Owens won four gold medals for the United States of America. Adolf Hitler personally congratulated the first few gold medalist in Track and Field Events ( 2 Germans and a Finn), but when it came to the high jump, and every German athlete was eliminated, he got up and left the stadium. The winner was another African-American: Cornelius Johnson. That evening the president of IOC told him if he did'nt congratulate all the winners he can't congratulate anyone, so Adolf Hitler chose not to congratulate anyone because he did not want to congratulate anyone of a different race. So when Jesse Owens won his first gold medal, the next day, he did not congratulate him. Jesse Owens proved Adolf Hitler's theory very wrong. Even though all this happened Jesse Owen's German rival Luz Long befriended him in front of the Nazis.

On the positive side the 1936 Olympics was the first one to be shown on television so there for it was broadcasted on 25 huge screens in Berlin, so that the public could watch the Olympics for free. The 1936 Olympics was also the Olympics which Marjorie Gestring competed in. The reason I have mentioned Marjorie Gestring (of the United States) is because she was the youngest ever female gold medalist Olympian in history, and still is, she was at the age of 13 when this happened and she also won a gold medal in springboard diving. One of the most amazing feats was the Hungarian waterpolo player, Oliver Halassy who won his third medal even though his leg had been amputated under the knee after a car accident. These amazing feats and more have contributed to this Olympics very much.