Athletics at the 1952 Summer Olympics

At the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, 33 athletics events were contested, 24 for men and 9 for women. There were a total number of 963 participating athletes from 57 countries.

Medal summary

Men

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
100 metres details	Lindy Remigino United States	10.4	Herb McKenley Jamaica	10.4	McDonald Bailey Great Britain	10.4
200 metres details	Andy Stanfield United States	20.7	Thane Baker United States	20.8	James Gathers United States	20.8
400 metres details	George Rhoden Jamaica	45.9	Herb McKenley Jamaica	45.9	Ollie Matson United States	46.8
800 metres details	Mal Whitfield United States	1:49.2	Arthur Wint Jamaica	1:49.4	Heinz Ulzheimer Germany	1:49.7
1500 metres details	Josy Barthel Luxembourg	3:45.2	Bob McMillen United States	3:45.2	Werner Lueg Germany	3:45.4
5000 metres details	Emil Zátopek Czechoslovakia	14:06.6	Alain Mimoun France	14:07.4	Herbert Schade Germany	14:08.6
10,000 metres details	Emil Zátopek Czechoslovakia	29:17.0	Alain Mimoun France	29:32.8	Aleksandr Anufriyev Soviet Union	29:48.2
110 metres hurdles details	Harrison Dillard United States	13.7	Jack Davis United States	13.7	Arthur Barnard United States	14.1
400 metres hurdles details	Charles Moore United States	50.8	Yuriy Lituyev Soviet Union	51.3	John Holland New Zealand	52.2
3000 metres steeplechase details	Horace Ashenfelter United States	8:45.4	Vladimir Kazantsev Soviet Union	8:51.6	John Disley Great Britain	8:51.8
4 × 100 metres relay details	United States (USA) Dean Smith Harrison Dillard Lindy Remigino Andy Stanfield	40.1	Soviet Union (URS) Boris Tokarev Levan Kalyayev Levan Sanadze Vladimir Sukharev	40.3	Hungary (HUN) László Zarándi Géza Varasdi György Csányi Béla Goldoványi	40.5
4 × 400 metres relay details	Jamaica (JAM) Arthur Wint Leslie Laing Herb McKenley George Rhoden	3:03.9	United States (USA) Ollie Matson Gerrard Cole Charles Moore Mal Whitfield	3:04.0	Germany (GER) Günter Steines Hans Geister Heinz Ulzheimer Karl-Friedrich Haas	3:06.6
Marathon details	Emil Zátopek Czechoslovakia	2:23:03	Reinaldo Gorno Argentina	2:25:35	Gustaf Jansson Sweden	2:26:07
10 kilometres walk details	John Mikaelsson Sweden	45:02.8	Fritz Schwab Switzerland	45:41.0	Bruno Junk Soviet Union	45:41.0
50 kilometres walk details	Giuseppe Dordoni Italy	4:28:07.8	Josef Doležal Czechoslovakia	4:30:17.8	Antal Róka Hungary	4:31:27.2
Long jump details	Jerome Biffle United States	7.57 m	Meredith Gourdine United States	7.53 m	Ödön Földessy Hungary	7.30 m
Triple jump details	Adhemar da Silva Brazil	16.22 m	Leonid Shcherbakov Soviet Union	15.98 m	Arnoldo Devonish Venezuela	15.52 m
High jump details	Walt Davis United States	2.04 m	Ken Wiesner United States	2.01 m	José da Conceição Brazil	1.98 m
Pole vault details	Bob Richards United States	4.55 m	Don Laz United States	4.50 m	Ragnar Lundberg Sweden	4.40 m
Shot put details	Parry O'Brien United States	17.41 m	Darrow Hooper United States	17.39 m	Jim Fuchs United States	17.06 m
Discus throw details	Sim Iness United States	55.03 m	Adolfo Consolini Italy	53.78 m	James Dillion United States	53.28 m
Javelin throw details	Cy Young United States	73.78 m	Bill Miller United States	72.46 m	Toivo Hyytiäinen Finland	71.89 m
Hammer throw details	József Csermák Hungary	60.34 m	Karl Storch Germany	58.86 m	Imre Németh Hungary	57.74 m
Decathlon details	Bob Mathias United States	7,887 pts	Milt Campbell United States	6,975 pts	Floyd Simmons United States	6,788 pts

Women

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
100 metres details	Marjorie Jackson Australia	11.5	Daphne Hasenjager South Africa	11.8	Shirley Strickland de la Hunty Australia	11.9
200 metres details	Marjorie Jackson Australia	23.7	Bertha Brouwer Netherlands	24.2	Nadezhda Khnykina-Dvalishvili Soviet Union	24.2
80 metres hurdles details	Shirley Strickland de la Hunty Australia	10.9	Mariya Golubnichaya Soviet Union	11.1	Maria Sander Germany	11.1
4 × 100 metres relay details	United States (USA) Mae Faggs Barbara Jones Janet Moreau Catherine Hardy	45.9	Germany (GER) Ursula Knab Maria Sander Helga Klein Marga Petersen	45.9	Great Britain (GBR) Sylvia Cheeseman June Foulds Jean Desforges Heather Armitage	46.2
Long jump details	Yvette Williams New Zealand	6.24 m	Aleksandra Chudina Soviet Union	6.14 m	Shirley Cawley Great Britain	5.92 m
High jump details	Esther Brand South Africa	1.67 m	Sheila Lerwill Great Britain	1.65 m	Aleksandra Chudina Soviet Union	1.63 m
Shot put details	Galina Zybina Soviet Union	15.28 m	Marianne Werner Germany	14.57 m	Klavdia Tochonova Soviet Union	14.50 m
Discus throw details	Nina Romashkova Soviet Union	51.42 m	Elizaveta Bagryantseva Soviet Union	47.08 m	Nina Dumbadze Soviet Union	46.29 m
Javelin throw details	Dana Zátopková Czechoslovakia	50.47 m	Aleksandra Chudina Soviet Union	50.01 m	Yelena Gorchakova Soviet Union	49.76 m

Records broken

During the 1952 Summer Olympic Games, 26 new Olympic records and 8 new world records were set in the athletics events.

Men's Olympic and world records

Event	Date	Round	Name	Nationality	Result	OR	WR
400 metres	July 25	Final	George Rhoden Herb McKenley	Jamaica	45.9 s	OR
1500 metres	July 26	Final	Josy Barthel Bob McMillen	Luxembourg United States	3:45.2	OR
5000 metres	July 24	Final	Emil Zátopek	Czechoslovakia	14:06.6	OR
10,000 metres	July 20	Final	Emil Zátopek	Czechoslovakia	29:17.0	OR
110 metres hurdles	July 24	Final	Harrison Dillard Jack Davis	United States	13.7 s	OR
400 metres hurdles	July 21	Final	Charles Moore	United States	50.8 s	OR
3000 metres steeplechase	July 25	Final	Horace Ashenfelter	United States	8:45.4 s	OR
4 x 400 metres relay	July 27	Final	Les Laing Herb McKenley George Rhoden Arthur Wint	Jamaica	3:03.9	OR	WR
10 kilometres walk	July 27	Final	John Mikaelsson	Sweden	45:02.8	OR
50 kilometres walk	July 21	Final	Giuseppe Dordoni	Italy	4:28:07.8	OR
Marathon	July 27	Final	Emil Zátopek	Czechoslovakia	2:23:03.2	OR	WR
High jump	July 20	Final	Walt Davis	United States	2.04 m	OR
Pole vault	July 22	Final	Bob Richards	United States	4.55 m	OR
Triple jump	July 23	Final	Adhemar da Silva	Brazil	16.22 m	OR	WR
Shot put	July 21	Final	Parry O'Brien	United States	17.41 m	OR
Discus throw	July 22	Final	Sim Iness	United States	55.03 m	OR
Javelin throw	July 24	Final	Cy Young	United States	73.78 m	OR
Hammer throw	July 24	Final	József Csermák	Hungary	60.34 m	OR	WR
Decathlon	July 26	Final	Bob Mathias	United States	7887 pts	OR	WR

Women's Olympic and world records

Event	Date	Round	Name	Nationality	Result	OR	WR
200 metres	July 26	Semifinal	Marjorie Jackson	Australia	23.4 s	OR	WR
80 metres hurdles	July 24	Final	Shirley Strickland de la Hunty	Australia	10.9 s	OR	WR
4 x 100 metres relay	July 27	Final	Mae Faggs Catherine Hardy Barbara Jones Janet Moreau	United States	45.9 s	OR	WR
Long jump	July 23	Final	Yvette Williams	New Zealand	6.24 m	OR
Shot put	July 26	Final	Galina Zybina	Soviet Union	15.28 m	OR	WR
Discus throw	July 20	Final	Nina Romashkova	Soviet Union	51.42 m	OR
Javelin throw	July 24	Final	Dana Zátopková	Czechoslovakia	50.47 m	OR

Medal table

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

Participating nations

A total of 57 nations participated in the different Athletics events at the 1952 Summer Olympics. Numbers in parenthesis indicate the number of athletes representing each nation.