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Athletics at the 1952 Summer Olympics – Men's 1500 metres

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Men's 1500 metres
at the Games of the XV Olympiad
Olympic Athletics
VenueHelsinki Olympic Stadium
DatesJuly 24 (heats)
July 25 (semifinals)
July 26 (final)
Competitors52 from 26 nations
Winning time3:45.2 OR
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Josy Barthel
 Luxembourg
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Bob McMillen
 United States
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Werner Lueg
 Germany
← 1948
1956 →
Video on YouTube amateur film

The men's 1500 metres event at the 1952 Olympics took place between July 24 and July 26.[1] Fifty-two athletes from 26 nations competed.[2] The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by Josy Barthel of Luxembourg; to date, this is the only Olympic gold medal won by a Luxembourger, though Luxembourg-born Michel Théato is credited for winning the 1900 Marathon for France. Germany won its first medal in the 1500 metres with Werner Lueg's bronze.

Summary

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The early leaders of the final were Audun Boysen followed by Warren Druetzler. Towards the end of the first lap, Werner Lueg began to move up to take the lead, with Rolf Lamers on his shoulder to place a wall to control the pack. Patrick El Mabrouk was next in line but unable to get by. On the third lap Lamers was unable to maintain the pace as Josy Barthel and Roger Bannister exchanging elbows with El Mabrouk lined up behind Leug. With 300 metres to go, Leug accelerated, opening up a 5-metre gap down the backstretch but through the final turn, Leug was unable to hold the pace allowing Barthel to catch back up. Bob McMillen moved up from eighth place to catch the group of leaders at the head of the final straight. Barthel went around Leug and sprinted to victory. McMillen ran the long way around El Mabrouk and Bannister and was chasing Barthel down the straight. Leug maintained his gap on Bannister and El Mabrouk, but looked helplessly as McMillen sprinted past, but he didn't have enough race left to catch Barthel, finishing half a metre behind but also being credited with the same time, a new Olympic record.

Background

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This was the 12th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Six of the finalists from the 1948 Games returned: bronze medalist Willem Slijkhuis of the Netherlands, fourth-place finisher Václav Čevona of Czechoslovakia, fifth-place finisher Bill Nankeville of Great Britain, and later places (the 1948 final's places after sixth are disputed) Sándor Garay of Hungary, Josy Barthel of Luxembourg, and Denis Johansson of Finland. Werner Lueg of Germany had tied the world record a month before the Games. "There was no favorite for the 1952 1,500 [metres], but the field had outstanding depth."[2]

The Soviet Union, Thailand, and Venezuela each made their first appearance in the event. The United States made its 12th appearance, the only nation to have competed in the men's 1500 metres at each Games to that point.

Competition format

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For the first time, the competition expanded to three rounds. There were six heats of between 7 and 10 runners each, with the top four runners in each advancing to the semifinals. This allowed the number of semifinals to be reduced to two and the number of runners in each to be standardized at 12. The top six runners in each semifinal advanced to the final, resulting in the typical 12-man final race.[2][3]

Records

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These were the standing world and Olympic records prior to the 1952 Summer Olympics.

World record  Gunder Hägg (SWE) 3:43.0 Gothenburg, Sweden 7 July 1944
Olympic record  Jack Lovelock (NZL) 3:47.8 Berlin, Germany 6 August 1936

During the final, Josy Barthel set a new Olympic record at 3:45.2. The top eight men in the final all surpassed the old (pre-World War II) Olympic record.

Schedule

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All times are Eastern European Summer Time (UTC+3)

Date Time Round
Thursday, 24 July 1952 17:10 Round 1
Friday, 25 July 1952 17:40 Semifinals
Saturday, 26 July 1952 16:30 Final

Results

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Round 1

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The first round was held on July 24. The fastest four runners in each heat advanced to the final round.

Heat 1

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Josy Barthel  Luxembourg 3:51.6 Q
2 Günter Dohrow  Germany 3:51.8 Q
3 Ingvar Ericsson  Sweden 3:52.0 Q
4 Don MacMillan  Australia 3:52.0 Q
5 Sándor Iharos  Hungary 3:56.0
6 Mieczysław Długoborski  Poland 3:57.8
7 Filemón Camacho  Venezuela 4:18.0
8 Pierre Gillet  France 4:26.6
Hans Harting  Netherlands DNF

Heat 2

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Warren Druetzler  United States 3:51.4 Q
2 Sture Landqvist  Sweden 3:52.2 Q
3 Stanislav Jungwirth  Czechoslovakia 3:52.4 Q
4 Mihail Velsvebel  Soviet Union 3:52.6 Q
5 Aulis Pystynen  Finland 3:53.0
6 Len Eyre  Great Britain 3:53.2
7 Fred Lüthi  Switzerland 3:56.4
8 Turhan Göker  Turkey 4:00.6

Heat 3

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Olle Åberg  Sweden 3:51.0 Q
2 Denis Johansson  Finland 3:51.2 Q
3 Rolf Lamers  Germany 3:52.4 Q
4 Bill Parnell  Canada 3:53.4 Q
5 Fritz Prossinagg  Austria 3:54.2
6 Athol Jennings  South Africa 3:55.4
7 Daniel Janssens  Belgium 3:55.8
8 Cahit Önel  Turkey 3:58.4
Willem Slijkhuis  Netherlands DNF

Heat 4

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Patrick El Mabrouk  France 3:55.8 Q
2 Bob McMillen  United States 3:55.8 Q
3 Roger Bannister  Great Britain 3:56.0 Q
4 Vilmos Tölgyesi  Hungary 3:56.0 Q
5 John Landy  Australia 3:57.0
6 Andrija Otenhajmer  Yugoslavia 3:57.8
7 Maurice Marshall  New Zealand 4:01.0
8 Nikolay Kuchurin  Soviet Union 4:03.6
9 Vasilios Mavroidis  Greece 4:07.8

Heat 5

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 George Hoskins  New Zealand 3:56.2 Q
2 Frans Herman  Belgium 3:56.2 Q
3 Bill Nankeville  Great Britain 3:56.4 Q
4 Mykola Belokurov  Soviet Union 3:56.4 Q
5 Urpo Vähäranta  Finland 3:56.8
6 Javier Montez  United States 3:58.2
7 Stefan Lewandowski  Poland 4:00.8

Heat 6

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Werner Lueg  Germany 3:52.0 Q
2 Václav Čevona  Czechoslovakia 3:53.4 Q
3 Audun Boysen  Norway 3:55.0 Q
4 John Ross  Canada 3:55.2 Q
5 Jean Vernier  France 3:56.8
6 Edmund Potrzebowski  Poland 3:56.8
7 Sándor Garay  Hungary 4:01.2
8 Ekrem Koçak  Turkey 4:01.4
9 William Fahmy Hanna  Egypt 4:11.2
10 Satid Leangtanom  Thailand 4:32.6

Semifinals

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The fastest six runners in each heat advanced to the final round.

Semifinal 1

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Denis Johansson  Finland 3:49.4 Q
2 Werner Lueg  Germany 3:49.8 Q
3 Don MacMillan  Australia 3:50.8 Q
4 Warren Druetzler  United States 3:50.8 Q
5 Patrick El Mabrouk  France 3:51.0 Q
6 Audun Boysen  Norway 3:51.0 Q
7 Václav Čevona  Czechoslovakia 3:51.4
8 Sture Landqvist  Sweden 3:51.4
9 Bill Nankeville  Great Britain 3:52.0
10 Bill Parnell  Canada 3:52.4
11 Mihail Velsvebel  Soviet Union 3:52.6
12 George Hoskins  New Zealand 3:53.0

Semifinal 2

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Josy Barthel  Luxembourg 3:50.4 Q
2 Olle Åberg  Sweden 3:50.6 Q
3 Ingvar Ericsson  Sweden 3:50.6 Q
4 Bob McMillen  United States 3:50.6 Q
5 Roger Bannister  Great Britain 3:50.6 Q
6 Rolf Lamers  Germany 3:50.8 Q
7 Stanislav Jungwirth  Czechoslovakia 3:51.0
8 Vilmos Tölgyesi  Hungary 3:53.2
9 Frans Herman  Belgium 3:53.8
10 Günter Dohrow  Germany 3:55.2
11 Mykola Belokurov  Soviet Union 3:55.6
12 John Ross  Canada 4:00.6

Final

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1st place, gold medalist(s) Josy Barthel  Luxembourg 3:45.2 OR
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Bob McMillen  United States 3:45.2
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Werner Lueg  Germany 3:45.4
4 Roger Bannister  Great Britain 3:46.0 NR
5 Patrick El Mabrouk  France 3:46.0
6 Rolf Lamers  Germany 3:46.8
7 Olle Åberg  Sweden 3:47.0
8 Ingvar Ericsson  Sweden 3:47.6
9 Don MacMillan  Australia 3:49.6
10 Denis Johansson  Finland 3:49.8
11 Audun Boysen  Norway 3:51.4
12 Warren Druetzler  United States 3:56.0

References

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  1. ^ "Athletics at the 1952 Helsinki Games: Men's 1500 metres". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 28 October 2017.
  2. ^ a b c "1500 metres, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
  3. ^ Official Report, pp. 281–82.