Garmisch-Partenkirchen
1936

NOCs: 28

Athletes: 646 (80 women, 566 men)

Events: 17

Volunteers: N/A

Media: N/A

The Selection of Host Cities for the 1936 Games

It was at the Barcelona Session in 1931 that Berlin was chosen as host city of the Games of the XI Olympiad. On this occasion, the German National Olympic Committee announced that it was exercising its right to organise the Winter Games, as the rules of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) allowed at that time. Later, the German IOC members thus named Garmisch-Partenkirchen as host of the Winter Games, and the IOC agreed with the choice.

The First Symbolic Fire at the Olympic Winter Games

First time a symbolic fire was lit during the Olympic Winter Games.

The Spectacle at the Closing Ceremony

Fireworks were set off at the Closing Ceremony.

New on the Programme

Alpine skiing, in a combined format (downhill and slalom) was added to the programme, with events for both men and women.

A Demonstration

Eisschiessen (a kind of curling) was a demonstration sport. The military patrol race was a demonstration event for the third time.

Twelve Years from Garmisch-Partenkirchen to St. Moritz

The outbreak of hostilities, first in Japan and China and then in Europe, made it impossible for the Olympic Winter Games to be held in 1940 or 1944. Unlike the Summer Games, though, the Winter Games were not numbered if they were not celebrated. As a result, it would be 12 years before the V Olympic Winter Games was held, in St. Moritz, in 1948.

Ceremonies

6 February 1936, Garmisch. The skier Willy Bogner (GER) pronounces the Olympic Oath.

Official Opening of the Games by:

Chancellor Adolf Hitler

Lighting the Olympic Flame by:

A symbolic fire at an Olympic Winter Games was first lit in 1936 in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

Olympic Oath by:

Wilhelm Bogner (cross country skiing and Nordic combined)

Officials' Oath by:

The officials' oath at an Olympic Winter Games was first sworn in 1972 at Sapporo.