The “Games of the X Olympiad”, better known as the 1932 Summer Olympic Games, were held in the city of Los Angeles. As it was held during the Great Depression, no other city apart from Los Angeles placed a bid to host these games. Numerous athletes couldn’t pay for the ticket to get to Los Angeles and therefore, very few athletes from the 1928 Amsterdam games returned to participate in the Los Angeles ones.
The Organizing Committee for the 1932 Summer Olympics did not give an official report of its finances but numerous newspapers reported that the games had managed to earn a total profit of $1 million.
The 1932 Olympic Games also witnessed the use of an Olympic Village for the first time. This village was built for all male athletes and the females were put up in the Chapman Park Hotel located on Wilshire Boulevard. The games also saw one of the most famous traditions taking birth; the use of the victory podium to honor the athletes who finished first, second and third respectively, at the end of the event. Numerous places around the city of Los Angeles were renamed to suit the occasion better. The Los Angeles Coliseum was named the Olympic Stadium. Tenth Street, which was one of the busiest places Los Angeles, was renamed Olympic Boulevard.
The Los Angeles Olympics of 1932 also witnessed one of the most famous Japanese athletes winning his first gold medal. Takeichi Nishi won his first gold medal, becoming the first and only Japanese to win a gold medal in equestrian sports to date. He was later killed in the year 1945, when he was positioned for the defense of the island, Iwo Jima.
Thirty seven nations in all participated in the 1932 Olympic Games with Republic of China and Colombia being the new entrants.