Athletics at the 1932 Los Angeles Summer Games:

The top American in 1932 was Ben Eastman, who had broken the 800 world record with 1:50.0 at the Pacific AAU Championships in June. But he elected to compete only in the 400 at Los Angeles. The times posted by the other 800 runners were nothing outstanding and the event was considered open. The final pace was taken out by Canadian Phil Edwards who had a big lead with 52.4 at the bell. But on the backstretch he was caught by his teammate, Alex Wilson, and then by Britain’s Tommy Hampson. Wilson led until the closing stretch, caught by Hampson 20 metres from the line. Edwards hung on to win the bronze.