Athletics at the 1952 Summer Olympics

Dates	20 – 27 July 1952
Medal Events	33

The world had not recovered somewhat from the ravages of World War II, and the level of athletics competition was increasing yearly. The 1952 Olympics saw the début of athletes from the Soviet Union, who had competed at the 1946 and 1950 European Championships, but had passed on the 1948 Olympics, for rather Byzantine reasons. Germany also competed again, after they were not invited in 1948. Titularly Germany was to be represented by a combined team from East and West Germany, but the German team was entirely from West Germany, as the East Germans refused to compete alongside their Western counterparts. The 1952 Olympics were opened by two Finnish track legends. The torch was brought into the stadium at the Opening Ceremony by Paavo Nurmi, the greatest athletic star in the Finnish pantheon. He then handed it to Hannes Kolehmainen , winner of the 5K and 10K in 1912 and the marathon in 1920, who lit the Olympic Flame. Having been opened by distance runners, it was fitting that the Helsinki Olympics were the private party of the great Czechoslovakian runner, Emil Zátopek. Zátopek won the 5,000/10,000 double in dominating fashion. He had never before run a marathon, but elected to enter that race as well, and won quite easily, completeing a unique Olympic distance triple. His family did quite well, as his wife, Dana Zátopková, won the women’s javelin gold medal. The German team won no events, but collected two silvers and three bronze medals. The Soviet men did won any gold medals, but Galina Zybina won the shot put and Nina Romashkova-Ponomaryova the discus throw.

Events

Event	Status	Date	Participants	NOCs
100 metres, Men	Olympic	20 – 21 July 1952	72	33
200 metres, Men	Olympic	22 – 23 July 1952	71	35
400 metres, Men	Olympic	24 – 25 July 1952	71	35
800 metres, Men	Olympic	20 – 22 July 1952	50	32
1,500 metres, Men	Olympic	24 – 26 July 1952	52	26
5,000 metres, Men	Olympic	22 – 24 July 1952	45	24
10,000 metres, Men	Olympic	20 July 1952	33	21
Marathon, Men	Olympic	27 July 1952	66	32
110 metres Hurdles, Men	Olympic	23 – 24 July 1952	30	20
400 metres Hurdles, Men	Olympic	20 – 21 July 1952	40	24
3,000 metres Steeplechase, Men	Olympic	23 – 25 July 1952	35	19
4 x 100 metres Relay, Men	Olympic	26 – 27 July 1952	88	22
4 x 400 metres Relay, Men	Olympic	26 – 27 July 1952	72	18
10 kilometres Race Walk, Men	Olympic	24 – 27 July 1952	23	12
50 kilometres Race Walk, Men	Olympic	21 July 1952	31	16
High Jump, Men	Olympic	20 July 1952	36	24
Pole Vault, Men	Olympic	21 – 22 July 1952	28	18
Long Jump, Men	Olympic	21 July 1952	27	19
Triple Jump, Men	Olympic	23 July 1952	35	23
Shot Put, Men	Olympic	21 July 1952	20	14
Discus Throw, Men	Olympic	22 July 1952	32	20
Hammer Throw, Men	Olympic	24 July 1952	33	18
Javelin Throw, Men	Olympic	23 July 1952	26	16
Decathlon, Men	Olympic	25 – 26 July 1952	28	16
100 metres, Women	Olympic	21 – 22 July 1952	56	27
200 metres, Women	Olympic	25 – 26 July 1952	38	21
80 metres Hurdles, Women	Olympic	23 – 24 July 1952	34	22
4 x 100 metres Relay, Women	Olympic	27 July 1952	60	15
High Jump, Women	Olympic	27 July 1952	17	10
Long Jump, Women	Olympic	23 July 1952	34	22
Shot Put, Women	Olympic	26 July 1952	20	13
Discus Throw, Women	Olympic	20 July 1952	20	16
Javelin Throw, Women	Olympic	24 July 1952	21	13
			963 (776/187)	57 (55/37)

Medals

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
100 metres, Men	Lindy Remigino	USA	Herb McKenley	JAM	McDonald Bailey	GBR
200 metres, Men	Andy Stanfield	USA	Thane Baker	USA	Jimmy Gathers	USA
400 metres, Men	George Rhoden	JAM	Herb McKenley	JAM	Ollie Matson	USA
800 metres, Men	Mal Whitfield	USA	Arthur Wint	JAM	Heinz Ulzheimer	GER
1,500 metres, Men	Josy Barthel	LUX	Bob McMillen	USA	Werner Lueg	GER
5,000 metres, Men	Emil Zátopek	TCH	Alain Mimoun	FRA	Herbert Schade	GER
10,000 metres, Men	Emil Zátopek	TCH	Alain Mimoun	FRA	Aleksandr Anufriyev	URS
Marathon, Men	Emil Zátopek	TCH	Reinaldo Gorno	ARG	Gustaf Jansson	SWE
110 metres Hurdles, Men	Harrison Dillard	USA	Jack Davis	USA	Art Barnard	USA
400 metres Hurdles, Men	Charlie Moore	USA	Yury Lituyev	URS	John Holland	NZL
3,000 metres Steeplechase, Men	Horace Ashenfelter	USA	Vladimir Kazantsev	URS	John Disley	GBR
4 × 100 metres Relay, Men	United States	USA	Soviet Union	URS	Hungary	HUN
4 × 400 metres Relay, Men	Jamaica	JAM	United States	USA	Unified Team of Germany	GER
10 kilometres Race Walk, Men	John Mikaelsson	SWE	Fritz Schwab	SUI	Bruno Junk	URS
50 kilometres Race Walk, Men	Pino Dordoni	ITA	Josef Doležal	TCH	Antal Róka	HUN
High Jump, Men	Buddy Davis	USA	Ken Wiesner	USA	José da Conceição	BRA
Pole Vault, Men	Bob Richards	USA	Don Laz	USA	Ragnar Lundberg	SWE
Long Jump, Men	Jerome Biffle	USA	Meredith Gourdine	USA	Ödön Földessy	HUN
Triple Jump, Men	Adhemar da Silva	BRA	Leonid Shcherbakov	URS	Asnoldo Devonish	VEN
Shot Put, Men	Parry O'Brien	USA	Darrow Hooper	USA	Jim Fuchs	USA
Discus Throw, Men	Sim Iness	USA	Adolfo Consolini	ITA	Jim Dillion	USA
Hammer Throw, Men	József Csermák	HUN	Karl Storch	GER	Imre Németh	HUN
Javelin Throw, Men	Cy Young	USA	Bill Miller	USA	Toivo Hyytiäinen	FIN
Decathlon, Men	Bob Mathias	USA	Milt Campbell	USA	Floyd Simmons	USA
100 metres, Women	Marjorie Jackson	AUS	Daphne Hasenjäger	RSA	Shirley Strickland de la Hunty	AUS
200 metres, Women	Marjorie Jackson	AUS	Puck Brouwer	NED	Nadezhda Khnik'ina	URS
80 metres Hurdles, Women	Shirley Strickland de la Hunty	AUS	Mariya Golubnichaya	URS	Maria Sander	GER
4 × 100 metres Relay, Women	United States	USA	Unified Team of Germany	GER	Great Britain	GBR
High Jump, Women	Esther Brand	RSA	Sheila Lerwill	GBR	Aleksandra Chudina	URS
Long Jump, Women	Yvette Williams	NZL	Aleksandra Chudina	URS	Shirley Cawley	GBR
Shot Put, Women	Galina Zybina	URS	Marianne Werner	GER	Klavdiya Tochonova	URS
Discus Throw, Women	Nina Romashkova	URS	Yelizaveta Bagryantseva	URS	Nino Dumbadze	URS
Javelin Throw, Women	Dana Zátopková	TCH	Aleksandra Chudina	URS	Yelena Gorchakova	URS

Medal table

NOC		Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
United States	USA	15	10	6	31
Czechoslovakia	TCH	4	1	0	5
Australia	AUS	3	0	1	4
Soviet Union	URS	2	8	7	17
Jamaica	JAM	2	3	0	5
Italy	ITA	1	1	0	2
South Africa	RSA	1	1	0	2
Hungary	HUN	1	0	4	5
Sweden	SWE	1	0	2	3
Brazil	BRA	1	0	1	2
New Zealand	NZL	1	0	1	2
Luxembourg	LUX	1	0	0	1
Germany	GER	0	3	5	8
France	FRA	0	2	0	2
Great Britain	GBR	0	1	4	5
Argentina	ARG	0	1	0	1
Netherlands	NED	0	1	0	1
Switzerland	SUI	0	1	0	1
Finland	FIN	0	0	1	1
Venezuela	VEN	0	0	1	1