Athletics at the Games of the XV Olympiad
Athletics at the 1952 Summer Olympics on a Finnish stamp
No. of events	33
Competitors	963 from 57 nations
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Athletics at the 1952 Summer Olympics
Track events
100 m	men	women
200 m	men	women
400 m	men
800 m	men
1500 m	men
5000 m	men
10,000 m	men
80 m hurdles		women
110 m hurdles	men
400 m hurdles	men
3000 m steeplechase	men
4 × 100 m relay	men	women
4 × 400 m relay	men
Road events
Marathon	men
10 km walk	men
50 km walk	men
Field events
Long jump	men	women
Triple jump	men
High jump	men	women
Pole vault	men
Shot put	men	women
Discus throw	men	women
Javelin throw	men	women
Hammer throw	men
Combined events
Decathlon	men
v t e

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 Gene 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
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
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	Asnoldo Devonish  Venezuela	15.52 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
Hammer throw details	József Csermák  Hungary	60.34 m	Karl Storch  Germany	58.86 m	Imre Németh  Hungary	57.74 m
Javelin throw details	Cy Young  United States	73.78 m	Bill Miller  United States	72.46 m	Toivo Hyytiäinen  Finland	71.89 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
High jump details	Esther Brand  South Africa	1.67 m	Sheila Lerwill  Great Britain	1.65 m	Aleksandra Chudina  Soviet Union	1.63 m
Long jump details	Yvette Williams  New Zealand	6.24 m	Aleksandra Chudina  Soviet Union	6.14 m	Shirley Cawley  Great Britain	5.92 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

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
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
	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
	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
	Venezuela (VEN)	0	0	1	1
Totals (20 entries)		33	33	33	99

Participating nations

A total of 57 nations participated in the different Athletics events at the 1952 Summer Olympics.