Berlin 1936

Olympic Games Berlin 1936 Medals

Front: Seated Nike, goddess of victory holding laurel wreath and palm branch. Colosseum in background.

Back: Victorious athlete with palm branch carried in triumph by jubliant athletes, stadium in background.

Designer: Giuseppe Cassioli
Mint: B.H. Mayer, Pforzheim, Germany

Jesse Owens, nicknamed The Buckeye Bullet, won a historic four gold medals in track and field at the Berlin Games. A year before the Olympic Games at the Big Ten Championships, Owens set three world records and equalled another within the space of an hour.

Head of the organizing committee, Carl Diem, conceived of the idea of carrying a flame from Ancient Olympia all the way to the Berlin Stadium. The first-ever torch relay began in Greece on July 20, 1936, and ended Aug. 1, 1936, with Fritz Schilgen running the final leg and lighting the Olympic flame in the stadium. Ever since, every Summer Games includes a torch relay.