The 1952 Winter Olympics, officially known as the VI Olympic Winter Games, took place in Oslo, Norway, from 14 to 25 February 1952. A total of 694 athletes representing 30 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) participated in the Games, taking part in 22 events from 6 sports.[1]
From the thirteen NOCs that collected at least one medal, eight secured at least one gold. Ten NOCs won more than one medal, and among these, Norway was the most successful with sixteen medals, including seven golds. The United States (eleven medals, four golds) and Finland (nine medals, three golds) finished second and third in the medal table, respectively.[2]
After a 16-year hiatus from Olympic competition Germany made a triumphant return, winning seven medals and three golds.[8] They won gold medals in both two- and four-man bobsleigh events. The results for both events were identical with the United States and Switzerland taking silver and bronze.[9] The other gold medal for Germany went to the husband and wife figure skating pair of Paul and Ria Falk, who won the mixed pairs competition.[10]Mirl Buchner of Germany was the only other triple medalist when she won three medals in alpine skiing, placing second in the downhill and third in the slalom and giant slalom.[11]
Wim van der Voort from the Netherlands placed second in the 1,500 meter speed skating events and his countryman Kees Broekman placed second in the 5,000 and 10,000-meter races. These were the first-ever Dutch medals at the Winter Olympics.[12]Great Britain's lone medal was won by Jeannette Altwegg, who became only the second British woman to win the ladies' figure skating competition.[13]Dick Button and James Grogan of the United States won gold and bronze in the men's figure skating event.[14] Button became the first figure skater to land a triple jump in competition when he performed the triple loop in the men's free skate program.[15]
Finnish athletes won nine medals and three golds at the Games. They dominated the cross-country events, winning eight out of a possible twelve medals.[16] A women's race was added to the cross-country program for the first time and Finnish skiers Lydia Wideman, Mirja Hietamies and Siiri Rantanen swept the event.[16]Veikko Hakulinen won the 50-kilometer men's race to begin an Olympic career that would culminate in seven medals, three of them gold.[17]
The ice hockey tournament was won by Canada. Their gold medal game against the United States ended in a tie, and International rules at the time did not allow for overtime, so the gold medal was awarded to Canada on goal differential.[18] Canada had won all but one Olympic hockey tournament thus far, but in 1956 the Soviet team entered the competition and ended Canadian dominance.[19]
The medal table is based on information provided by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and is consistent with IOC convention in its published medal tables. By default, the table is ordered by the number of gold medals the athletes from a nation have won (in this context, a nation is an entity represented by a NOC). The number of silver medals is taken into consideration next and then the number of bronze medals. If nations are still tied, equal ranking is given and they are listed alphabetically.[2]
There was a tie for third place in the men's 500-metre event in speed skating, therefore two bronze medals were awarded.[20]
The IOC medal table currently shows medals won by both "Germany" and "Federal Republic of Germany (1950–1990, GER since)", which have been combined here. The official report for these Games refers to Germany, not West Germany or FRG.[21][22][23]
References
^ ab"Oslo 1952". International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 27 April 2011.
^Organising Committee for the VI Olympic Winter Games (1952). VI Olympic Winter Games(PDF) (in Norwegian and English). Oslo: The Organising Committee. Archived from the original(PDF) on 4 June 2011. Retrieved 6 November 2010.
Norway
