The , officially known as the '''IV Olympic Winter Games''', were celebrated in
1936 in the
Market Town of
Garmisch-Partenkirchen in
Bavaria ,
Germany . Germany also hosted the
Summer Olympics the same year in
Berlin .
- Alpine Skiing made its first appearance in the Winter Olympics as the Combined , which added a skier's results in both the Downhill and Slalom . German athletes won both the men's and women's events:
- Ivar Ballangrud won three out of the four Speed Skating races.
- Sonja Henie won her third consecutive gold medal in woman's Figure Skating .
- Switzerland won the 4 man bobsled in a time of 5:19.85.
- The country who won the overall games was Norway with a total of 7 gold medals, 5 silver medals and 3 bronze medals.
- These games had the largest and heaviest medals ever awarded to athletes: 100 mm diameter, 4 mm thick, 324 grams.
A total of 17 events in 8 sporting disciplines were contested at these Games:
28 nations sent athletes to compete in Germany, to date the largest number at a Winter Games.
Australia ,
Bulgaria ,
Greece ,
Liechtenstein ,
Spain , and
Turkey all made their Winter Olympic debut in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, and
Estonia ,
Latvia , the
Netherlands , and
Yugoslavia all returned to the Games after having missed the
1932 Winter Olympics .
See Also: 1936 Winter Olympics medal count
''Berlin Games – How Hitler Stole the Olympic Dream'', by
Guy Walters ISBN 0-7195-6783-1 (UK) 0060874120 (USA)
