Trees awarded to gold medalists during 1936 Olympic Games
The Olympic oaks or, informally, Hitler oaks are the English
oak trees grown from the year-old saplings given to the gold medal winners of the
1936 Olympic Games, in Berlin, which was seen as
Adolf Hitler's games. They were called "Olympic oaks" at the time. Not many are known, and fewer have survived. Not all of the trees, if any, were presented by Hitler; Lovelock's, for example, was presented by Dr Theodor Lewald, and Boardman's was collected by members of his crew. 130 gold medals were awarded, and a corresponding number of trees.
Germany
While the largest number of oaks were given to German athletes, who won the most medals, many are said[according to whom?] to be planted near the stadium, though no record was kept, and they would be difficult to identify among the many oaks in the vicinity.[citation needed]
Ivar Johansson's tree is in Folkparken,
Norrköping. The tree was first planted in Johansson's private garden, but in 1960 it was donated to the city of Norrköping.[citation needed]
United Kingdom
The sapling presented to
Jack Beresford was planted in the grounds of
Bedford School.[2] It was removed many years later when building work was undertaken. The wood was used to make presentation shields for the rowing club.[3]
Christopher Boardman's oak was planted in
How Hill, Norfolk but was eventually killed by honey fungus. In early 2017 the remaining tree stump was carved into a sailing boat and olympic rings.[5]
United States
Jesse Owens won four gold medals and so had four trees.
John Woodruff (
Connellsville, Pennsylvania) was the first African American to win gold in the 1936 Olympics (800 Meters). He brought his oak home to Connellsville and planted it in the northwest corner of the High School Stadium (Campbell Field) in Connellsville where it was still standing as of 2022.[9]