| | Event type

400 metres Freestyle, Men

Date	28 – 30 July 1952
Status	Olympic
Location	Helsingin Uimastadion, Helsinki
Participants	48 from 29 countries

Along with the returning 1948 medallists John Marshall and Jimmy McLane, McLane’s American compatriot Ford Konno, Sweden’s Per-Olof Östrand, Hironoshin Furuhashi of Japan and the Frenchman Jean Boiteux were tipped to be medal contenders. Marshall, the Australian world record holder, failed to reach the final and although McLane and Furuhashi both reached the final they filled the final two positions. The battle for the gold came to be decided between Boiteux, Konno and Östrand. The Frenchman led by a small margin over his American rival with the Swede always behind but keeping up the pressure on the leaders. Mindful of Konno’s noted sprint finish, Boiteux made his effort at the 200m mark. By 300m he held pulled out a second on Konno but the American began to fight back. Konno surged back and nearly brought himself level but with fifteen metres to go the American faltered and Boiteux held on to win. Östrand held on to finish third.

Boiteux came from a family of swimmers; his father had been a long distance swimmer whilst his mother and uncle both represented France in the Paris Olympics of 1924. One of the iconic photographs of the 1952 Olympics is of Papa Boiteux, complete with wet beret, being helped out of the pool by his son after he had jumped in to celebrate the victory.

Pos	Swimmer	NOC	R1	SF	Final
1	Jean Boiteux	FRA	4:45.1 (1 h4)	4:33.1 (1 h1)	4:30.7 (1)	Gold
2	Ford Konno	USA	4:47.9 (2 h5)	4:38.6 (1 h3)	4:31.3 (2)	Silver
3	Per-Olof Östrand	SWE	4:38.6 (1 h6)	4:33.6 (2 h1)	4:35.2 (3)	Bronze
4	Peter Duncan	RSA	4:44.0 (2 h8)	4:41.7 (2 h3)	4:37.9 (4)
5	Jack Wardrop	GBR	4:43.7 (1 h1)	4:41.1 (3 h1)	4:39.9 (5)
6	Wayne Moore	USA	4:43.2 (1 h8)	4:42.0 (1 h2)	4:40.1 (6)
7	Jimmy McLane	USA	4:46.5 (1 h3)	4:42.2 (4 h1)	4:40.3 (7)
8	Hironoshin Furuhashi	JPN	4:43.3 (1 h2)	4:44.2 (3 h3)	4:42.1 (8)
9	Yasuo Tanaka	JPN	4:44.3 (2 h1)	4:44.9 (2 h2)	–
10	Graham Johnston	RSA	4:52.3 (2 h4)	4:45.5 (5 h1)	–
11	Tetsuo Okamoto	BRA	4:46.1 (1 h7)	4:46.2 (4 h3)	–
12	Gerry McNamee	CAN	4:53.5 (3 h7)	4:46.7 (3 h2)	–
13	Gotfryd Gremlowski	POL	4:49.0 (3 h1)	4:47.4 (6 h1)	–
14	Yoshio Tanaka	JPN	4:54.0 (3 h8)	4:48.0 (7 h1)	–
15	John Marshall	AUS	4:46.8 (2 h7)	4:50.3 (4 h2)	–
16	Allen Gilchrist	CAN	4:52.5 (3 h3)	4:52.4 (5 h3)	–
17	Dennis Ford	RSA	4:50.2 (2 h3)	4:53.6 (5 h2)	–
18	Gusztáv Kettesi	HUN	4:53.0 (2 h6)	4:54.2 (6 h3)	–
19	Jo Bernardo	FRA	4:53.5 (4 h1)	4:56.0 (6 h2)	–
20	Enrique Granados	ESP	4:53.7 (4 h3)	4:56.2 (7 h3)	–
21	Joris Tjebbes	NED	4:54.4 (3 h5)	5:01.9 (8 h1)	–
22	György Csordás	HUN	4:45.7 (1 h5)	– (DNS h2)	–
23	Alfredo Yantorno	ARG	4:54.5 (4 h7)	– (DNS h2)	–
24	Ronnie Burns	GBR	4:55.2 (5 h7)	– (DNS h3)	–
25	Garrick Agnew	AUS	4:55.5 (3 h6)	–	–
26	Pentti Ikonen	FIN	4:55.7 (5 h1)	–	–
27	Federico Zwanck	ARG	4:56.4 (5 h3)	–	–
28	Viktor Drobinsky	URS	4:56.5 (2 h2)	–	–
29	Anatoly Raznochintsev	URS	4:56.8 (3 h4)	–	–
30	Neo Chwee Kok	SGP	4:57.5 (3 h2)	–	–
31	Peter Steinwender	AUT	5:03.6 (4 h4)	–	–
32	Peter Head	GBR	5:04.2 (5 h4)	–	–
33	Angelo Romani	ITA	5:05.1 (4 h8)	–	–
34	Carlos Alberto Bonacich	ARG	5:06.3 (4 h5)	–	–
35	René Million	FRA	5:07.0 (5 h8)	–	–
=36	Per Olsen	NOR	5:08.6 (5 h5)	–	–
=36	Fernando Madeira	POR	5:08.6 (6 h8)	–	–
38	Pentti Paatsalo	FIN	5:09.3 (6 h5)	–	–
39	Ricardo Esberard	BRA	5:09.5 (6 h3)	–	–
40	Cheung Kin Man	HKG	5:11.4 (6 h4)	–	–
41	Eduardo Priggione	URU	5:12.1 (4 h2)	–	–
42	Roar Woldum	NOR	5:14.4 (4 h6)	–	–
43	Geoffrey Marks	SRI	5:15.2 (6 h1)	–	–
44	Robert Cook	BER	5:15.4 (7 h5)	–	–
45	Einari Aalto	FIN	5:15.8 (5 h6)	–	–
46	Walter Bardgett	BER	5:18.0 (5 h2)	–	–
47	Sonny Monteiro	HKG	5:21.6 (6 h2)	–	–
48	Walter Schneider	SUI	5:27.3 (7 h3)	–	–
49	Georg Mascetti	SAA	5:31.2 (7 h1)	–	–
50	Nguyễn Văn Phan	VNM	5:36.5 (6 h7)	–	–
51	Muhammad Ramzan	PAK	5:45.7 (7 h8)	–	–
DNS	Hernán Avilés	CHI	– (DNS h7)	–	–
DNS	Jack Hakim	EGY	– (DNS h3)	–	–
DNS	Efrén Fierro	MEX	– (DNS h8)	–	–
DNS	Tonatiuh Gutiérrez	MEX	– (DNS h2)	–	–
DNS	César Borja	MEX	– (DNS h6)	–	–
DNS	Sambiao Basanung	PHI	– (DNS h4)	–	–
DNS	Abdel Aziz El-Shafei	EGY	– (DNS h7)	–	–
DNS	Yury Shlyapin	URS	– (DNS h6)	–	–

Round One (28 July 1952 — 17:00)

Fastest 16 advanced to the semi-finals.

Heat One

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	5	Jack Wardrop	GBR	– (–) –	4:43.7	Q
2	4	Yasuo Tanaka	JPN	– (–) –	4:44.3	Q
3	2	Gotfryd Gremlowski	POL	– (–) –	4:49.0	Q
4	3	Jo Bernardo	FRA	– (–) –	4:53.5	Q
5	6	Pentti Ikonen	FIN	– (–) –	4:55.7
6	1	Geoffrey Marks	SRI	– (–) –	5:15.2
7	7	Georg Mascetti	SAA	– (–) –	5:31.2

Heat Two

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	6	Hironoshin Furuhashi	JPN	– (–) –	4:43.3	Q
2	3	Viktor Drobinsky	URS	– (–) –	4:56.5
3	4	Neo Chwee Kok	SGP	– (–) –	4:57.5
4	2	Eduardo Priggione	URU	– (–) –	5:12.1
5	1	Walter Bardgett	BER	– (–) –	5:18.0
6	5	Sonny Monteiro	HKG	– (–) –	5:21.6
DNS	7	Tonatiuh Gutiérrez	MEX	– (–) –	–

Heat Three

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	5	Jimmy McLane	USA	– (–) –	4:46.5	Q
2	1	Dennis Ford	RSA	– (–) –	4:50.2	Q
3	4	Allen Gilchrist	CAN	– (–) –	4:52.5	Q
4	6	Enrique Granados	ESP	– (–) –	4:53.7	Q
5	2	Federico Zwanck	ARG	– (–) –	4:56.4
6	8	Ricardo Esberard	BRA	– (–) –	5:09.5
7	3	Walter Schneider	SUI	– (–) –	5:27.3
DNS	7	Jack Hakim	EGY	– (–) –	–

Heat Four

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	4	Jean Boiteux	FRA	– (–) –	4:45.1	Q
2	7	Graham Johnston	RSA	– (–) –	4:52.3	Q
3	1	Anatoly Raznochintsev	URS	– (–) –	4:56.8
4	5	Peter Steinwender	AUT	– (–) –	5:03.6
5	2	Peter Head	GBR	– (–) –	5:04.2
6	6	Cheung Kin Man	HKG	– (–) –	5:11.4
DNS	3	Sambiao Basanung	PHI	– (–) –	–

Heat Five

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	1	György Csordás	HUN	– (–) –	4:45.7	Q
2	5	Ford Konno	USA	– (–) –	4:47.9	Q
3	6	Joris Tjebbes	NED	– (–) –	4:54.4	Q
4	3	Carlos Alberto Bonacich	ARG	– (–) –	5:06.3
5	2	Per Olsen	NOR	– (–) –	5:08.6
6	7	Pentti Paatsalo	FIN	– (–) –	5:09.3
7	4	Robert Cook	BER	– (–) –	5:15.4

Heat Six

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	5	Per-Olof Östrand	SWE	– (–) –	4:38.6	QOR
2	1	Gusztáv Kettesi	HUN	– (–) –	4:53.0	Q
3	6	Garrick Agnew	AUS	– (–) –	4:55.5
4	3	Roar Woldum	NOR	– (–) –	5:14.4
5	4	Einari Aalto	FIN	– (–) –	5:15.8
DNS	2	César Borja	MEX	– (–) –	–
DNS	7	Yury Shlyapin	URS	– (–) –	–

Heat Seven

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	1	Tetsuo Okamoto	BRA	– (–) –	4:46.1	Q
2	3	John Marshall	AUS	– (–) –	4:46.8	Q
3	6	Gerry McNamee	CAN	– (–) –	4:53.5	Q
4	7	Alfredo Yantorno	ARG	– (–) –	4:54.5	Q
5	5	Ronnie Burns	GBR	– (–) –	4:55.2	Q
6	8	Nguyễn Văn Phan	VNM	– (–) –	5:36.5
DNS	2	Hernán Avilés	CHI	– (–) –	–
DNS	4	Abdel Aziz El-Shafei	EGY	– (–) –	–

Heat Eight

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	1	Wayne Moore	USA	– (–) –	4:43.2	Q
2	2	Peter Duncan	RSA	– (–) –	4:44.0	Q
3	3	Yoshio Tanaka	JPN	– (–) –	4:54.0	Q
4	5	Angelo Romani	ITA	– (–) –	5:05.1
5	4	René Million	FRA	– (–) –	5:07.0
6	6	Fernando Madeira	POR	– (–) –	5:08.6
7	8	Muhammad Ramzan	PAK	– (–) –	5:45.7
DNS	7	Efrén Fierro	MEX	– (–) –	–

Semi-Finals (29 July 1952 — 10:00)

Fastest eight advanced to the final.

Heat One

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	–	Jean Boiteux	FRA	– (–) –	4:33.1	QOR
2	–	Per-Olof Östrand	SWE	– (–) –	4:33.6	Q
3	–	Jack Wardrop	GBR	– (–) –	4:41.1	Q
4	–	Jimmy McLane	USA	– (–) –	4:42.2	Q
5	–	Graham Johnston	RSA	– (–) –	4:45.5
6	–	Gotfryd Gremlowski	POL	– (–) –	4:47.4
7	–	Yoshio Tanaka	JPN	– (–) –	4:48.0
8	–	Joris Tjebbes	NED	– (–) –	5:01.9

Heat Two

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	–	Wayne Moore	USA	– (–) –	4:42.0	Q
2	–	Yasuo Tanaka	JPN	– (–) –	4:44.9
3	–	Gerry McNamee	CAN	– (–) –	4:46.7
4	–	John Marshall	AUS	– (–) –	4:50.3
5	–	Dennis Ford	RSA	– (–) –	4:53.6
6	–	Jo Bernardo	FRA	– (–) –	4:56.0
DNS	–	György Csordás	HUN	– (–) –	–
DNS	–	Alfredo Yantorno	ARG	– (–) –	–

Heat Three

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	–	Ford Konno	USA	– (–) –	4:38.6	Q
2	–	Peter Duncan	RSA	– (–) –	4:41.7	Q
3	–	Hironoshin Furuhashi	JPN	– (–) –	4:44.2	Q
4	–	Tetsuo Okamoto	BRA	– (–) –	4:46.2
5	–	Allen Gilchrist	CAN	– (–) –	4:52.4
6	–	Gusztáv Kettesi	HUN	– (–) –	4:54.2
7	–	Enrique Granados	ESP	– (–) –	4:56.2
DNS	–	Ronnie Burns	GBR	– (–) –	–

Final (30 July 1952 — 17:00)

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	100 m	200 m	300 m	Time
1	–	Jean Boiteux	FRA	1:02.7 (=1) 1:09.1 (1)	2:11.8 (1) 1:09.9 (=1)	3:21.7 (1) 1:09.0 (=2)	4:30.7	OR
2	–	Ford Konno	USA	1:02.7 (=1) 1:09.2 (2)	2:11.9 (2) 1:10.6 (3)	3:22.5 (2) 1:08.8 (1)	4:31.3
3	–	Per-Olof Östrand	SWE	1:03.7 (3) 1:10.0 (3)	2:13.7 (3) 1:09.9 (=1)	3:23.6 (3) 1:11.6 (5)	4:35.2
4	–	Peter Duncan	RSA	1:04.3 (7) 1:11.3 (=6)	2:15.6 (6) 1:12.2 (4)	3:27.8 (6) 1:10.1 (4)	4:37.9
5	–	Jack Wardrop	GBR	1:04.0 (=5) 1:11.8 (8)	2:15.8 (7) 1:15.1 (8)	3:30.9 (8) 1:09.0 (=2)	4:39.9
6	–	Wayne Moore	USA	1:03.8 (4) 1:10.6 (5)	2:14.4 (=4) 1:13.0 (7)	3:27.4 (5) 1:12.7 (7)	4:40.1
7	–	Jimmy McLane	USA	1:04.0 (=5) 1:10.4 (4)	2:14.4 (=4) 1:12.6 (=5)	3:27.0 (4) 1:13.3 (8)	4:40.3
8	–	Hironoshin Furuhashi	JPN	1:05.6 (8) 1:11.3 (=6)	2:16.9 (8) 1:12.6 (=5)	3:29.5 (7) 1:12.6 (6)	4:42.1