Best Moments of Alpine Skiing in the Olympic Winter Games. Garmisch-Partenkirchen 1936

The Garmisch-Partenkirchen Winter Games, officially known as the IVth Olympic Winter Games, were held from February 6 to 16, 1936, and attracted 646 participants (566 men and 80 women) representing 28 different countries. Australia, Bulgaria, Greece, Liechtenstein, Spain, and Turkey celebrated their debut at the Winter Olympics. The program consisted of 17 events (14 for Men, 2 for Women, and 1 Mixed event) held in 4 sports and 8 disciplines (Alpine Skiing, Bobsleigh, Cross Country Skiing, Figure Skating, Ice Hockey, Nordic Combined, Ski Jumping, and Speed Skating).

A total of approximately 500,000 visitors attended the Winter Games. Approximately 150,000 visitors attended the medal ceremony on the final day of the event, setting a new visitor record for the Winter Games.

On opening day, a dedicated Olympic radio station, built within four months, began operations, broadcasting approximately 35 programs daily. Reporters from 19 nations were present; six different programs could be broadcast simultaneously.

This was the last time the Summer and Winter Olympics were held in the same country in the same year.

The emblem featured the Alpspitze (2,628 m), a renowned landmark of Garmisch-Partenkirchen and one of the most iconic and stunning mountain formations in the Northern Limestone Alps. Below it, the Olympic rings are depicted, with a ski track winding through them.

The 1936 Winter Games seemed jeopardized by the lack of snow, but it had begun to snow just in time. On February 3, the message went out via teletype: "Snowfall in Garmisch-Partenkirchen; Winter Olympics secured!" By February 4, the snow cover in the valley was about 20 cm deep. And after a brief interruption, it began to snow around noon the next day, and the snowfall continued overnight.

On 6 February 1936, Chancellor Adolf Hitler declared the 4th Olympic Winter Games open. The Olympic Oath was sworn by the skier, Willy Bogner.

Alpine skiing made its Olympic debut at the IV Olympic Winter Games in Garmisch-Partenkirchen in 1936, featuring a combined format that included Downhill and Slalom events for both Men and Women.

Controversy arose immediately when the IOC declared that ski instructors could not compete in the Olympic Games because they were professionals. For this reason, the Austrian and Swiss Ski Associations decided to boycott the men's ski races. Heinrich Harrer, widely known for his book Seven Years in Tibet and its film adaptation, among others, was supposed to compete for Austria in the Alpine Combined event. A prominent Swiss victim of this rule was Elvira Osirnig from Graubünden, who had obtained a ski instructor certificate but had never worked in this profession before. As a result, the IOC withdrew skiing from the next Games, scheduled for 1940.

Both Downhills were run on Kreuzech and the two Slalom races at Gudiberg.

The Kreuzeck ski area, at 1,340 m above sea level, was created for the 1936 Winter Olympics. The Kandahar slope, also located there, is now used for Alpine Ski World Cup races.

The Gudiberg ski slope is situated next to the Große Olympiaschanze, which hosts the annual New Year's Ski Jumping competition as part of the Four Hills Tournament.

Franz Pfnür and Christl Cranz-Borchers from Germany were the first Olympic Champions in Alpine Skiing history; they both won the gold medal in the Combined event. They owed their gold medals primarily to their victories in the Slalom.

The Downhill races of the Men’s and Women’s Alpine skiing combined competition were both held on the opening day of the Games, 7 February, with more than 40,000 spectators flocking to Kreuzeck ski area for the sport’s Olympic debut.

Cranz won the newly established Alpine Combined competition in a spectacular race. After a crash in the Downhill competition, Cranz was 19 seconds behind Laila Schou Nilsen (Norway), but after completing two outstanding Slalom runs the following day, she won the gold medal ahead of Käthe Grasegger (Germany) and Schou Nilsen.

After becoming Alpine skiing’s first female Olympic champion, Cranz continued to collect medals at a dizzying rate, winning three golds in the 1937 World Championships in Chamonix (Slalom, Downhill, and Combined) and repeating the feat two years later in Zakopane (Poland). In 1938, she won the Slalom and the Combined at the Championships held in Engelberg (Switzerland).

Source: Olympedia

Garmisch, February 1936, IV Olympic Winter Games. The camera was used to film the cross-country skiing races.