The 10th Summer Olympic Games were held in Los Angeles, California, from July 30 to August 14, 1932.

Held during the worldwide Great Depression, many nations and athletes were unable to pay for the trip to Los Angeles. In fact, six months before the Games were to begin, not a single country had responded to the official invitations; then they started to trickle in. Neither had many of the spectator tickets been sold, and it seemed that the Memorial Coliseum, which had been expanded to 105,000 seats for the occasion, would be relatively empty. Then a few Hollywood stars (including Douglas Fairbanks, Charlie Chaplin, Marlene Dietrich, and Mary Pickford) offered to entertain the crowd and ticket sales picked up; by Opening Day the Coliseum was almost completely sold out.

Facts and Highlights

A total of 1,922 athletes (1,720 men and 202 women) from 37 countries participated in 131 events in 18 sports.

The youngest athlete at the Games was American Ralph Flanagan, who was 13 years, 241 days old at the time of his competition in the 1,500m freestyle swimming event. The oldest athlete was Canadian George Gyles, who was 54 years, 261 days old when he won a silver medal in the mixed 8-meter sailing event.

The 1932 Games saw the introduction of automatic timing in track and field events, photo-finish cameras, and a victory platform.

Los Angeles constructed the very first Olympic Village for the Games. The Olympic Village consisted of 321 acres in Baldwin Hills and offered 550 two-bedroom portable bungalows for the male athletes, a hospital, post office, library, and a large number of eating establishments to feed the athletes. The female athletes were housed in the Chapman Park Hotel downtown, which offered more luxuries than the bungalows.

Japan, which had recently taken over the Chinese province of Manchuria, tried to enter athletes in the 1932 Games from the state it called Manchukuo, but without success. China retaliated by sending a lone athlete to the Games, Liu Changchun, who ran in the 100- and 200-meter sprints.

One of America's most-watched athletes during the Games was "Babe" Didrikson, who had already made a name for herself in track and field (as well as in basketball). Although she had already proven herself in multiple events, Olympics rules of the day prevented her from entering more than three events (men could enter as many as they wished). She subsequently won gold medals in the javelin throw and high hurdles and a silver medal in the high jump, set a world record, and was the co-holder of two others.

International Olympic Committee http://www.olympic.org/los-angeles-1932-summer-olympics

Los Angeles, California
Douglas Fairbanks
Charlie Chaplin
"Babe" Didrikson

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