Nations 49
Athletes 3954 (3625 Uomini; 329 Donne)
Italian athletes 182 (169 Uomini; 13 Donne)
Berlin inaugurated the tradition of lighting the Olympic torch at Olympia using the sun's rays: the idea came from Carl Diem, head of the Olympic organising committee. Along with the official documentary film "Olympia" by Leni Riefenstahl. The Olympics of the "Aryan greatness" was envisioned as a model of technical organisation, unthinkable at the time. Despite the fact the expansionist and anti-Jewish policies by Adolf Hitler almost led to the Americans, English and French boycotting. What still remains is the myth that the German chancellor refused to shake the hand of the hero of the Games, the "black antelope" Jesse Owens (Hitler actually only personally congratulated German javelin thrower "Tilly" Fleischer). Berlin saw Basketball join the Olympics. The Italians, third in the medal table behind the USA and Germany, had the youngest gold medal winner: Edoardo Mangiarotti who was 17 years and 4 months old.
Trebisonda (Ondina) Valla gold Athletics 80 m hurdles
Giuseppe Baldo, Sergio Bertoni, Carlo Biagi, Giulio Cappelli, Alfredo Foni, Annibale Frossi, Francesco Gabriotti, Ugo Locatelli, Libero Marchini, Alfonso Negro, Achille Piccini, Pietro Rava, Luigi Scarabello, Bruno Venturini gold Football
Ulderico Sergo gold Boxing Bantamweight
Giulio Gaudini gold Fencing Foil individual
Giulio Gaudini, Gioacchino Guaragna, Gustavo Marzi, Giorgio Bocchino, Manlio Di Rosa, Ciro Verratti gold Fencing Foil team
Franco Riccardi gold Fencing Epee individual
Giancarlo Cornaggia-Medici, Franco Riccardi, Giancarlo Brusati, Edoardo Mangiarotti, Alfredo Pezzana, Saverio Ragno gold Fencing Epee team
Luigi De Manincor, Domenico Mordini, Massimo Enrico Poggi, Luigi Mino Poggi, Giovanni Leone Reggio, Bruno Bianchi gold Sailing international eight metre
Mario Lanzi silver Athletics 800 m
Gianni Caldana , Tullio Gonnelli, Orazio Mariani, Elio Ragni silver Athletics 4 x100m relay
Bianco Bianchi, Mario Gentili, Armando Latini, Severino Rigoni silver Cicling Road TEAM PURSUIT 4000m
Almiro Bergamo, Luciano Negrini, Guido Santin silver Rowing Coxed pair
Dino Barsotti, Guglielmo Del Bimbo, Enrico Garzelli, Cesare Milani, Enzo Bartolini, Marco Checcacci, Oreste Grossi, Ottorino Quaglierini, Dante Secchi silver Rowing EIGHT WITH COXSWAIN (8+) MEN
Gavino Matta silver Boxing Fly weight
Saverio Ragno silver Fencing Epee individual
Gustavo Marzi silver Fencing Sabre individual
Giulio Gaudini, Gustavo Marzi, Mario Aldo Montano , Aldo Masciotta, Vincenzo Pinton, Athos Tanzini silver Fencing Sabre team
Luigi Beccali bronze Athletics 1.500 m
Giorgio Oberweger bronze Athletics Discus throw
Silvano Abbà bronze Modern Pentathlon equestrian, fencing, swimming, shooting, cross country running
Giorgio Bocchino bronze Fencing Foil individual
Giancarlo Cornaggia-Medici bronze Fencing Epee individual