Bolivia at the 1936 Summer Olympics

The Bolivian Olympic Committee was recognized by the International Olympic Committee on 31 December 1935.[1] This was Bolivia's first appearance at any Olympic Games.[2] The 1936 Summer Olympics were held from 1–16 August 1936 in Berlin, Germany; a total of 3,963 athletes participated, representing 49 countries.[3] The Bolivian delegation consisted of a single competitor, Alberto Conrad.[4] He was the flag bearer for the opening ceremony.[2] Bolivia would not return to Olympic competition until the 1956 Winter Olympics, and their next appearance at a Summer Olympics would come 28 years later, at the 1964 Summer Olympics.[2]

Alberto Conrad was 26 years old at the time of the Berlin Olympics, and was making his only Olympic appearance.[5][6] In the first round of the men's 100 meters freestyle he was drawn into heat 2. He completed the race in a time of 1 minute and 17.5 seconds, which was seventh and last in his heat; only the top two from each heat and the two next fastest overall were permitted to advance, and Conrad was eliminated; the slowest qualifying time in his heat was 1 minute and 1 second.[7] Conrad was the slowest of all 45 competitors, and nearly ten seconds behind 44th place, Spyridon Mavrogiorgos of Greece.[8] The gold medal was won by Ferenc Csik of Hungary in a time of 57.6 seconds. The silver was won by Masanori Yusa and the bronze by Shigeo Arai, both of Japan.[9]

• Note: Ranks are given within a swimmer's heat only.