High Jump, Women

The leading jumper in 1936 was Britain’s Dorothy Odam, who won the WAAA Championship with 1.65 (5-5), equaling the world record although it was never ratified. There were no tie-breaking rules based on attempts in 1936. Thus, Odam, Elfriede Kaun (GER), and Ibolya Csák (HUN) were tied after they all cleared 1.60 (5-3) and missed at 1.62 (5-3¾), although Odam cleared on her first attempt, Csák on her second, and Kaun on her third. A jump-off took place and Csák won the gold medal by clearing 1.62 (5-3¾) on her first attempt. Kaun and Odam jumped-off for the silver medal and Odam won the silver by clearing 1.60 (5-3).

After Odam, the highest mark of the year belonged to Gretel Bergmann of Germany, who had cleared 1.64 (5-4½) at the German Trials. But Bergmann was a Jew and the German Olympic Committee refused to place her on the team and only two German “women” competed. One was Kaun, while the other was Dora Ratjen, who placed fourth. However, after setting three world records in 1937 and 1938, Ratjen was revealed later that year to be a hermaphrodite – having mixed sexual characteristics. That seemed to be the end of it until the late 50s when Ratjen revealed “she” was really Heinrich Ratjen (listed for many years as Hermann Ratjen), and had been ordered by the Third Reich to compete as a woman to try to bring a gold medal to the Nazis.