Athletics at the 1936 Summer Olympics – Men's triple jump

This was the 10th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Returning jumpers from the 1932 Games were bronze medalist Kenkichi Oshima of Japan, eighth-place finisher Rolland Romero of the United States, and eleventh-place finisher Onni Rajasaari of Finland. World record holder Jack Metcalfe of Australia competed, threatening the Japanese dominance of the event. Oshima had won the triple jump at the 1934 Far East Championship, with Masao Harada second. Naoto Tajima had won the long jump then, and also came into this event as the 1936 Olympic bronze medalist in the long jump.[1]

Chile, the Republic of China, Colombia, Iceland, Poland, and Yugoslavia each made their first appearance in the event. The United States competed for the 10th time, having competed at each of the Games so far.

The competition introduced what would eventually become the standard two-round format, though at the time it was described as a three-round format. In the qualifying round (or "elimination trials"), each jumper received three attempts to reach the qualifying distance of 14.00 metres. Those who did advanced to the final round. In the final round, each jumper took three jumps (the "semifinal"). The top six after that received a further three jumps (the "final"), with the best of the six to count.[1][3]

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in metres) prior to the 1928 Summer Olympics.

World record	Jack Metcalfe (AUS)	15.78	Sydney, Australia	14 December 1935
Olympic record	Chuhei Nambu (JPN)	15.72	Los Angeles, United States	4 August 1932

Naoto Tajima set the new world and Olympic records with 16.00 metres in his fourth jump of the final.