Aeronautics, Open

The Fédération Aeronautique Internationale (FAI) proposed that the 1936 Olympic aeronautics prize be awarded to Hermann Schreiber. The 1936 IOC Session, held at the Berlin Olympics, unanimously decided to go along with the proposal, awarding Schreiber the gold medal. Schreiber was actually present in Berlin to receive his award, as he also competed in the gliding demonstration held during the Olympics.

Schreiber had earned his prize in 1935. When glider pilots from Switzerland, Austria, Yugoslavia and Germany gathered on 7 September 1935 on the Jungfraujoch for a competition, Schreiber left with his S 18, a Swiss construction of 14.5 meters span, from the small town of Thun “to a point near the Jungfraujoch drag”, set off, received several low updrafts and landed in Bellinzona, after 90 km (straight line) and a 5½-hour flight, making him the first to cross the Alps with a glider.