历届奥运会回顾：1932年美国奥运会

本届奥运会于1932年7月30日开幕，8月14日结束。由于当时欧美国家都正处于经济大萧条期，而赛址又远在美国西海岸，因此参加本届奥运会的运动员人数还不及上届阿姆斯特丹奥运会时的一半。此次的参赛国家共37个，其中首次参加的有中国和哥伦比亚。

KEY FACTS

Opening date:30 July 1932

Closing date:14 August 1932

The Host City: Los angeles (USA)

Sports: 14

LOS ANGELES  1932 Games of the X Olympiad

Because the 1932 Olympics were held in the middle of the Great Depression and in the comparatively remote city of Los Angeles, half as many athletes took part as had in 1928. Nevertheless, the level of competition was extremely high and 18 world records were either broken or equalled. The crowds set records too, starting with the 100,000 people who attended the Opening Ceremony.

The 1932 Olympics were the first to last 16 days. The duration¹ of the Olympics has remained between 15 and 18 days ever since. Between 1900 and 1928, no Summer Olympics was shorter than 79 days. For the first time, the male athletes were housed in a single Olympic Village. (The women stayed in a luxury² hotel.) At the victory ceremonies, the medal winners stood on a victory stand and the flag of the winner was raised.

Official automatic³ timing⁴ was introduced for the track events, as was the photo-finish camera. 14-year-old Japanese Kusuo Kitamura won the 1,500m freestyle to become the youngest male in any sport ever to earn a gold medal in an individual event. 21-year-old American Babe Didrikson qualified⁵ for all five women's track and field events, but was only allowed to compete in three. She won the javelin⁶ throw and set world records in the high jump and the 80m hurdles⁷.

Do You Know? 奥林匹克村就诞生！

The Olympic Village (opposite picture) was reserved for men, and women stayed in the Chapman Park hotel.