The men's

marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of kilometres ( 26 mi 385 yd), usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There ...

at the

1932 Summer Olympics The 1932 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the X Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1932) were an international multi-sport event held from July 30 to August 14, 1932, in Los Angeles, California, United States. The Games were held du ...

took place on August 7. It started and finished at the

Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (also known as the Los Angeles Coliseum or L.A. Coliseum) is a multi-purpose stadium in the Exposition Park, Los Angeles, Exposition Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States. Conceived as a hal ...

. Twenty-eight athletes from 14 nations competed. The 1930 Olympic Congress in Berlin had reduced the limit from 6 athletes per NOC to 3 athletes.Official Report, p. 377. The event was won by Juan Carlos Zabala of Argentina, the nation's first Olympic marathon medal. Great Britain also earned its first Olympic marathon medal with Sam Ferris's silver, while Finland made the marathon podium for a fourth consecutive Games as

Armas Toivonen Armas Adam Toivonen (January 20, 1899, Halikko – September 12, 1973) was a Finnish athlete who mainly competed in the men's marathon during his career. He competed for Finland at the 1932 Summer Olympics held in Los Angeles, United ...

won bronze.

Background

This was the ninth appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Returning runners from 1928 included sixth-place finisher Seiichiro Tsuda of Japan, eighth-place finisher Sam Ferris of Great Britain, ninth-place finisher

Albert Michelsen Albert Richard "Whitey" Michelsen (December 16, 1893 – July 7, 1964) was an American long-distance runner who is recognized as having set a world's best in the marathon on October 12, 1925, with a time of 2:29:01 at the inaugural Port Chester M ...

of the United States, and tenth-place finisher

Clifford Bricker Clifford Bricker (23 April 1904 – 20 September 1980) was a Canadian long-distance runner who competed in the 1928 and 1932 Summer Olympics. In 1927 he set the amateur world record for 15 miles. Career Bricker ran his first marathon in Boston i ...

of Canada. Ferris, along with Dunky Wright (20th in 1928) were among the best-known runners who competed;

led the always-strong Finnish team. Finland was without

Paavo Nurmi Paavo Johannes Nurmi (; 13 June 1897 – 2 October 1973) was a Finland, Finnish middle-distance running, middle-distance and long-distance running, long-distance runner. He was called the "Flying Finn" because he dominated distance running in th ...

, who would have been favored but was suspended just days before the Games began for allegedly accepting excessive expense money in violation of amateurism rules. Finns charged that the Swedish officials, who were in charge of the international athletics federation at the time, had used devious tricks in their campaign against Nurmi's amateur status, and ceased all athletic relations with Sweden. Argentina, Brazil, and Colombia each made their first appearance in Olympic marathons. The United States made its ninth appearance, the only nation to have competed in each Olympic marathon to that point.

Competition format

As all Olympic marathons, the competition was a single race. The now-standard marathon distance of 26 miles, 385 yards was run over a course that "started and finished at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, but was a loop course around Los Angeles."

Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows. ''(*)'' Course was list at 42.75 kilometres.

Schedule

Results

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Athletics at the 1932 Summer Olympics - Men's marathon Athletics at the 1932 Summer Olympics Marathons at the Olympics Marathons in the United States Men's marathons Men's events at the 1932 Summer Olympics