100 metres Freestyle, Men

A record entry of 60 swimmers from 33 different nations started the 100m freestyle heats, but that did not mean that standards were diluted as 49 times of under 60 seconds were recorded, which was nearly double the total from 1948. Although no one swimmer was superior to the rest, the American Dick Cleveland emerged as a tentative favorite after showing excellent form prior to the Games, but Cleveland was to disappoint and went out at the semi-final stage, along with European champion Alex Jany of France. Göran Larsson of Sweden made a quick start in the final but was passed by the blonde-haired American Clarke Scholes before the halfway mark. Scholes was put under pressure by Hiroshi Suzuki of Japan as they raced towards the finish but he held out to win the gold medal, although the official times of the two were identical. Larsson finished third, whilst just a third of a second separated the other five finalists.

Carlo Pedersoli, an Italian who reached the semi-final, had already made his film début with a minor role in “Quo Vadis” and would go on to a career in movies, most notably as a star in Italian “spaghetti westerns” of the 1960’s, under the name “Bud Spencer”.