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

The men's 100 metre backstroke was a swimming event held as part of the swimming at the 1936 Summer Olympics programme.^[1] It was the seventh appearance of the event, which was established in 1908. The competition was held from Wednesday to Friday, 12 to 14 August 1936.

Thirty swimmers from 17 nations competed.

Medalists

Gold	Silver	Bronze
Adolph Kiefer United States	Al Vande Weghe United States	Masaji Kiyokawa Japan

Records

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

World Record	1:04.8	Adolph Kiefer	Detroit (USA)	18 January 1936
Olympic Record	1:08.2	George Kojac	Amsterdam (NED)	9 August 1928

Adolph Kiefer set a new Olympic record in the first heat with 1:06.9 minutes. He bettered his record in the first semi-final with 1:06.8 minutes. In the final he improved the Olympic record again when he swam 1:05.9 minutes.

Results

Heats

Wednesday 12 August 1936: The fastest three in each heat and the fastest from across the heats advanced to the semi-finals.

Heat 1

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1	Adolph Kiefer (USA)	1:06.9	QQ OR
2	Masaji Kiyokawa (JPN)	1:07.2	QQ
3	Hans Schwarz (GER)	1:11.0	QQ
4	Elemér Gombos (HUN)	1:12.4
5	Jack Middleton (GBR)	1:15.0
6	Benvenuto Nunes (BRA)	1:16.9

Heat 2

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1	Taylor Drysdale (USA)	1:09.0	QQ
2	Heinz Schlauch (GER)	1:10.1	QQ
3	Draško Vilfan (YUG)	1:11.7	QQ
4	Stans Scheffer (NED)	1:13.6
5	Árpád Lengyel (HUN)	1:15.2
6	Munroe Bourne (CAN)	1:17.2
7	Antônio Amaral Filho (BRA)	1:21.0

Heat 3

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1	Yasuhiko Kojima (JPN)	1:09.7	QQ
2	Al Vande Weghe (USA)	1:10.6	QQ
3	Nils Christiansen (PHI)	1:11.5	QQ
4	Erwin Simon (GER)	1:11.7	qq
5	György Erdélyi (HUN)	1:14.7
6	Marcel Neumann (LUX)	1:18.8

Heat 4

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1	Jack Besford (GBR)	1:12.0	QQ
2	Gordon Kerr (CAN)	1:12.9	QQ
3	Björn Borg (SWE)	1:15.2	QQ
4	Boris Roolaid (EST)	1:21.1
5	Emmanouil Mallidis (GRE)	1:21.5

Heat 5

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1	Kiichi Yoshida (JPN)	1:10.0	QQ
2	Percy Oliver (AUS)	1:10.2	QQ
3	Piet Metman (NED)	1:13.7	QQ
4	Ademar Caballero (BRA)	1:17.0
5	Børge Bæth (DEN)	1:17.3
6	Alfonso Casasempere (CHI)	1:21.0

Semifinals

Thursday 13 August 1936: The fastest three in each semi-final and the fastest fourth-placed advanced to the final.

Semifinal 1

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1	Adolph Kiefer (USA)	1:06.8	QQ OR
2	Al Vande Weghe (USA)	1:08.6	QQ
3	Percy Oliver (AUS)	1:09.4	QQ
4	Kiichi Yoshida (JPN)	1:09.5	qq
5	Nils Christiansen (PHI)	1:11.1
6	Erwin Simon (GER)	1:11.7
7	Hans Schwarz (GER)	1:11.8
8	Björn Borg (SWE)	1:16.3

Semifinal 2

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1	Taylor Drysdale (USA)	1:08.6	QQ
2	Masaji Kiyokawa (JPN)	1:09.7	QQ
3	Yasuhiko Kojima (JPN)	1:09.9	QQ
4	Heinz Schlauch (GER)	1:10.8
5	Gordon Kerr (CAN)	1:11.2
6	Draško Vilfan (YUG)	1:13.3
7	Jack Besford (GBR)	1:13.6
8	Piet Metman (NED)	1:14.1

Final

Friday 14 August 1936:

Place	Swimmer	Time
1	Adolph Kiefer (USA)	1:05.9 OR
2	Al Vande Weghe (USA)	1:07.7
3	Masaji Kiyokawa (JPN)	1:08.4
4	Taylor Drysdale (USA)	1:09.4
5	Kiichi Yoshida (JPN)	1:09.7
6	Yasuhiko Kojima (JPN)	1:10.4
7	Percy Oliver (AUS)	1:10.7

References

^ "Swimming at the 1936 Berlin Summer Games: Men's 100 metres Backstroke". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 13 September 2016.

External links

Olympic Report
Wudarski, Pawel (1999). "Wyniki Igrzysk Olimpijskich" (in Polish). Retrieved 1 December 2008.

[SportsRef-1] "Swimming at the 1936 Berlin Summer Games: Men's 100 metres Backstroke". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 13 September 2016.

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