List of 1936 Winter Olympics medal winners

A photograph of a Caucasian man, wearing a sweater over a shirt and tie. He is pictured against a white tiled wall.
Matti Lähde, a member of Finland's gold medal-winning team in the cross-country 4 × 10 km relay

The 1936 Winter Olympics, officially known by the International Olympic Committee as the IV Olympic Winter Games,[1] were a multi-sport event held in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, from February 6 through February 16, 1936. A total of 646 athletes representing 28 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) participated at the Games in 17 events across 8 disciplines.[2]

The Olympic programme was changed from that of the 1932 Lake Placid Olympics, with the addition of alpine skiing for both men and women. Two demonstration sports were held—eisschiessen and military patrol.[2] Later added to the regular programme as biathlon, military patrol made its third appearance as a demonstration sport in the Garmisch-Partenkirchen Games.[3] Both men and women participated at these Games, with the women's alpine skiing event being the first medal event women contested at the Winter Olympics outside of figure skating. Two figure skating events for women—ladies' singles and pairs—had been part of the programme since the first Winter Olympics.[4][5][6]

A total of 95 athletes won medals at the Games.[7] Norway topped the medal count with fifteen medals, seven of which were gold. Sweden had the second most number of medals with seven, but had one less gold medal than host nation Germany, who had three golds and six overall medals. Austria, Finland, Germany, Great Britain, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States won medals in more than one event. Athletes from 11 of the 28 participating NOCs won at least a bronze medal; athletes from eight countries won at least one gold.[8][9] Great Britain's unexpected win in ice hockey remains their only Olympic gold medal in the sport to date.[2][10]

Sonja Henie of Norway won her third straight gold medal in the ladies' singles figure skating event, her last Olympic medal as she turned professional shortly after the Games.[2] Karl Schäfer of Austria also successfully defended his men's singles figure skating title from Lake Placid.[9][11] Sweden swept the medals in the cross-country 50 km, as did Norway in the Nordic combined.[9] Norway's Ivar Ballangrud was the most successful athlete, winning three golds and a silver in speed skating[9] and taking his career total to seven Olympic medals.[2] Other multiple medal winners were Oddbjørn Hagen of Norway (one gold, two silvers), Ernst Baier of Germany (one gold, one silver), Joseph Beerli of Switzerland (one gold, one silver), Erik August Larsson of Sweden (one gold, one bronze), Birger Wasenius of Finland (two silvers, one bronze), Olaf Hoffsbakken of Norway (two silvers), Fritz Feierabend of Switzerland (two silvers) and Sverre Brodahl of Norway (one silver, one bronze).[9]

  1. ^ Organisationskomitee für die IV. Olympischen Winterspiele, p. 29.
  2. ^ a b c d e Garmisch-Partenkirchen 1936 Archived 2010-12-05 at the Wayback Machine. International Olympic Committee. Retrieved October 22, 2010.
  3. ^ LeDuff, Charlie (February 21, 2002). "Olympics; Biathlon; Fourth Gold Medal For a Positive Thinker". The New York Times. Retrieved October 25, 2010.
  4. ^ Chamonix 1924 Archived 2010-10-07 at the Wayback Machine. International Olympic Committee. Retrieved October 22, 2010.
  5. ^ St. Moritz 1928 Archived 2010-12-05 at the Wayback Machine. International Olympic Committee. Retrieved October 22, 2010.
  6. ^ Lake Placid 1932 Archived 2010-10-08 at the Wayback Machine. International Olympic Committee. Retrieved October 22, 2010.
  7. ^ "1936 Garmisch-Partenkirchen Winter Games". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on January 7, 2011. Retrieved October 23, 2010.
  8. ^ "Garmisch-Partenkirchen 1936". Olympics.com. International Olympic Committee. Retrieved October 23, 2010.
  9. ^ a b c d e Organisationskomitee für die IV. Olympischen Winterspiele, p. 437.
  10. ^ "All the medallists since 1896". International Olympic Committee. Archived from the original on October 1, 2010. Retrieved October 22, 2010.
  11. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Karl Schäfer". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on April 20, 2011. Retrieved October 23, 2010.