Athletics at the 1936 Summer Olympics
At the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, 29 athletics events were contested, 23 for men and 6 for women. The program of events was unchanged from the previous Games. There was a total of 776 participants from 43 countries competing.
Medal summary
Men
Women
Records broken
20 new Olympic records and 6 new world records were set in the athletics events.Men's Olympic and world records
| Event | Date | Round | Name | Nationality | Result | OR | WR |
| 200 metres | 5 August | Final | Jesse Owens | 20.7 | OR | ||
| 1500 meters | 6 August | Final | Jack Lovelock | 3:47.8 | OR | WR | |
| 5000 metres | 7 August | Final | Gunnar Höckert | 14:22.2 | OR | ||
| 110 metres hurdles | 6 August | Semi-final | Forrest Towns | 14.1 | OR | WR | |
| 3000 metres steeplechase | 8 August | Final | Volmari Iso-Hollo | 9:03.8 | OR | ||
| 4 × 100 metres relay | 9 August | Final | Jesse Owens Ralph Metcalfe Foy Draper Frank Wykoff | 39.8 | OR | WR | |
| Marathon | 9 August | Final | Son Kitei | 2:29:19.2 | OR | ||
| 50 kilometres walk | 5 August | Final | Harold Whitlock | 4:30:41.4 | OR | ||
| Long jump | 4 August | Final | Jesse Owens | 8.06 m | OR | ||
| Triple jump | 6 August | Final | Naoto Tajima | 16.00 m | OR | WR | |
| High jump | 2 August | Final | Cornelius Johnson | 2.03 m | OR | ||
| Pole vault | 5 August | Final | Earle Meadows | 4.35 m | OR | ||
| Shot put | 2 August | Final | Hans Woellke | 16.20 m | OR | ||
| Discus throw | 5 August | Final | Ken Carpenter | 50.48 m | OR | ||
| Hammer throw | 3 August | Final | Karl Hein | 56.49 m | OR | ||
| Decathlon | 8 August | Final | Glenn Morris | 7900 | OR | WR |
Women's Olympic and world records
| Event | Date | Round | Name | Nationality | Result | OR | WR |
| 80 metres hurdles | 5 August | Semi-final | Trebisonda Valla | 11.6 | OR | ||
| 4 × 100 metres relay | 8 August | Heats | Emmy Albus Käthe Krauß Marie Dollinger Ilse Dörffeldt | 46.4 | OR | WR | |
| Discus throw | 4 August | Final | Gisela Mauermayer | 47.63 m | OR | ||
| Javelin throw | 2 August | Final | Tilly Fleischer | 45.18 m | OR |