Athletics at the 1936 Summer Olympics – Women's 4 × 100 metres relay

Women's 4 x 100 metres relay at the Games of the XI Olympiad
Dates	August 8 (heats), August 9 (final)
Teams	8
Winning time	46.9
Medalists
Harriet Bland Annette Rogers Betty Robinson Helen Stephens   United States   Eileen Hiscock Violet Olney Audrey Brown Barbara Burke   Great Britain   Dorothy Brookshaw Mildred Dolson Hilda Cameron Aileen Meagher   Canada

Athletics at the 1936 Summer Olympics
Track events
100 m		men		women
200 m		men
400 m		men
800 m		men
1500 m		men
5000 m		men
10,000 m		men
80 m hurdles				women
110 m hurdles		men
400 m hurdles		men
3000 m steeple		men
4×100 m relay		men		women
4×400 m relay		men
Road events
Marathon		men
50 km walk		men
Field events
Long jump		men
Triple jump		men
High jump		men		women
Pole vault		men
Shot put		men
Discus throw		men		women
Javelin throw		men		women
Hammer throw		men
Combined events
Decathlon		men

The women's 4 x 100 metres relay event at the 1936 Olympic Games took place on August 8 and August 9. The American team won with a time of 46.9 s after the German team, which had been in the lead, dropped the baton on the final leg.

Results

Heats

Heat 1

Rank	Country	Time	Notes
1	United States	47.1	Q
2	Canada	48.0	Q
3	Netherlands	48.4	Q
4	Austria	49.9

Key: Q = Qualified

Heat 2

Rank	Country	Time	Notes
1	Germany	46.4	Q, WR
2	Great Britain	47.5	Q
3	Italy	48.6	Q
4	Finland	49.5

Key: Q = Qualified, WR = World record

Final

Rank	Country	Time	Notes
	United States	46.9
	Great Britain	47.6
	Canada	47.8
4	Italy	48.7
5	Netherlands	48.8
	Germany		DSQ

Key: DSQ = Disqualified

In the heats, the German team set a world record of 46.4 s.^[1] In the final, they built a commanding lead, but their fourth runner, Ilse Dörffeldt, dropped the baton.^[2][3] The American team won in 46.9 s.^[3][4][5][6]

References

• 1936 Summer Olympics results: Women's 4x100 metre relay, from http://www.sports-reference.com/; retrieved 2010-05-23.

1. Report: Games of the Olympiad, New York: United States Olympic Committee, 1936, OCLC 17760969, p. 159.
2. Bud Greenspan, 100 Greatest Moments in Olympic History, Los Angeles: General Publication Group, 1995, ISBN 9781881649663, p. 33.
3. Duff Hart-Davis, Hitler's games: the 1936 Olympics, New York: Harper, 1986, ISBN 9780060155544, p. 200.
4. Louise Mead Tricard, American Women's Track and Field: A History, 1895 through 1980, Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland, 1996, ISBN 9780786402199, p. 227.
5. Reinhard Rürup, ed., 1936, die Olympischen Spiele und der Nationalsozialismus: eine Dokumentation, Berlin: Argon, 1996, ISBN 9783870243500, p. 144 (German)
6. Guy Walters, Berlin Games: How Hitler Stole the Olympic Dream, London: Hodder-John Murray, ISBN 978-0-7195-6783-4, pp. 268–69, wrongly stating that the time of 46.9 s was half a second faster than the record 46.4.