Olympic oaks

The Olympic oaks, informally called Hitler oaks, are English oak trees that were given to gold medal winners of the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games. 130 gold medals and trees, which were year-old saplings, were awarded. Several have survived.

Tilly Fleischer with her oak

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]}

The Netherlands

The Netherlands has 2 Olympic oaks planted at the Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam

New Zealand

• Jack Lovelock's tree is at Timaru Boys' High School.^[1]

South Korea

• Sohn Kee-chung's tree is at his memorial hall, Malli-dong, Seoul.^{[citation needed]}

Sweden

• 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]}

Ivar Johansson's Olympic Oak in Norrköping, Sweden

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]
• Harold Whitlock's sapling was presented to Hendon School. It was removed due to fungal disease in July 2007.^[4]
• Christopher Boardman's oak was planted in How Hill, Norfolk but was eventually killed by honey fungus. In early 2017 the remaining stump was carved into a sailing boat and Olympic rings.^[5]

United States

• Jesse Owens won four gold medals and received four trees. One tree was planted at James Rhodes High School in Cleveland, Ohio.^[4] Another may have been planted at Ohio State University.^[6]
• As of 2022, Cornelius Johnson's tree was still standing in the yard of his childhood home in Koreatown, Los Angeles.^[7][8]
• 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]

Woodruff's Olympic Oak in Connellsville, PA

• Ken Carpenter was a student at the University of Southern California (USC). His Olympic Oak was planted on the main USC campus where it grows behind Bovard Auditorium.^[10][11]

See also

• Forest swastikas, arboreal relics of Nazi Germany