1952 Summer Olympics / Athletics - 4 × 100 m (men)

sport	athletics
discipline	4 x 100 meter relay
gender	Men
Attendees	88 athletes from 22 countries
Competition location	Helsinki Olympic Stadium
Competition phase	July 26, 1952 (preliminary) July 27, 1952 (semifinals / finals)
Medalist  United States  URS  HUN

The men's 4 x 100 meter relay at the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki was held on July 26 and 27, 1952 in the Olympic Stadium in Helsinki . 22 relays with 88 athletes took part.

The US team won the gold medal with Dean Smith , Harrison Dillard , Lindy Remigino and Andy Stanfield in front of the Soviet team ( Boris Tokarew , Levan Kalyayev , Levan Sanadze , Vladimir Sukharev ). Bronze went to the Hungarian squadron with László Zarándi , Géza Varasdi , György Csányi and Béla Goldoványi .

Existing records

World record	39.8 s	USA ( Jesse Owens , Ralph Metcalfe , Foy Draper , Frank Wykoff )	Berlin , Germany	August 9, 1936
Olympic record			Final of Berlin , Germany

Conducting the competition

The relays competed on July 26th to four heats. The three best-placed teams reached the semi-finals on July 27th. In the preliminary rounds, the first three teams qualified for the final on the same day.

Note: The qualified relays are highlighted in light blue.

Time schedule

July 26, 3:30 p.m .: Preliminaries
July 27, 3:30 p.m .: Semi-finals
July 27, 5:10 p.m .: Final

Prelims

Date: July 26, 1952, from 3:30 p.m.

Forward 1

space	Season	occupation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	United States	Dean Smith Harrison Dillard Lindy Remigino Andy Stanfield	40.3 s	40.34 s
2	France	Alain Porthault Étienne Bally Yves Camus René Bonino	40.8 s	40.98 s
3	Poland	Dominik Sucheński Zygmunt Buhl Zdobysław Stawczyk Emil Kiszka	41.8 s	42.00 s
4th	Finland	Adolf Turakainen Voitto Hellsten Pauli Tavisalo Issi Baran	42.0 s	42.20 s
5	Canada	Gordon Crosby Don McFarlane Bob Hutchinson Walter Sutton	42.6 s	42.73 s
6th	Portugal	Tomás Paquete Fernando Casimiro Eugénio Eleuterio Rui Maia	42.8 s	43.01 s
7th	Egypt	Emad El-Din Shafei Fouad Yazgi Fawzi Chaaban Youssef Ali Omar	42.9 s	43.02 s

Forward 2

space	Season	occupation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Great Britain	McDonald Bailey William Jack John Gregory Brian Shenton	41.2 s	41.43 s
2	Italy	Carlo Vittori Antonio Siddi Giorgio Sobrero Franco Leccese	41.5 s	41.73 s
3	Cuba	Evelio Planas Samuel Anderson Angel García Rafael Fortún	41.9 s	42.14 s
4th	Gold coast	George Acquaah Gabriel Laryea John Owusu Augustus Lawson	42.1 s	42.27 s
5	Australia	Morris Curotta Edwin Carr Ray Weinberg Ken Doubleday	42.3 s	42.39 s
6th	Thailand	Adul Wanasatith Arun Sankosik Pongummart Ummarttayakul Boonterm Pakpuang	44.5 s	44.81 s

Forward 3

space	Season	occupation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Hungary	László Zarándi Géza Varasdi György Csányi Béla Goldoványi	41.0 s	41.45 s
2	Czechoslovakia	František Brož Jiří David Miroslav Horčic Zdeněk Pospíšil	41.5 s	41.49 s
3	Argentina	Enrique Beckles Mariano Acosta Gerardo Bönnhoff Romeo Galán	41.5 s	41.56 s
4th	BR Germany	Peter Kraus Werner Zandt Josef Heinen Franz Happernagl	41.5 s	41.63 s
5	Switzerland	Willy Schneider Willy Eichenberger Ernst Mühlethaler Hans Wehrli-Frei	41.6 s	41.81 s

Forward 4

space	Season	occupation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Soviet Union	Boris Tokarew Levan Kalyayev Levan Sanadze Vladimir Sukharev	41.3 s	41.45 s
2	Nigeria	Titus Erinle Rafiu Oluwa Karim Olowu Muslim Arongudade	42.4 s	42.63 s
3	Pakistan	Muhammad Sharif Butt Muhammad Fazil Abdul Aziz Muhammad Aslam	42.8 s	42.91 s
DSQ	Iceland	Ásmundur Bjarnason Hörður Haraldsson Pétur Sigurðsson Ingi Þorsteinsson

Semifinals

Date: July 27, 1952, from 3:30 p.m.

Run 1

space	Season	occupation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	United States	Dean Smith Harrison Dillard Lindy Remigino Andy Stanfield	40.4 s	40.51 s
2	Soviet Union	Boris Tokarew Levan Kalyayev Levan Sanadze Vladimir Sukharev	40.7 s	41.01 s
3	Great Britain	McDonald Bailey William Jack John Gregory Brian Shenton	41.0 s	41.24 s
4th	Argentina	Enrique Beckles Mariano Acosta Gerardo Bönnhoff Romeo Galán	41.4 s	41.61 s
5	Poland	Dominik Sucheński Zygmunt Buhl Zdobysław Stawczyk Emil Kiszka	41.8 s	41.91 s
6th	Pakistan	Muhammad Sharif Butt Muhammad Fazil Abdul Aziz Muhammad Aslam	42.0 s	42.15 s

Run 2

The season of Italy did not appear in the semifinals.

space	Season	occupation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Hungary	László Zarándi Géza Varasdi György Csányi Béla Goldoványi	40.9 s	40.99 s
2	France	Alain Porthault Étienne Bally Yves Camus René Bonino	40.9 s	41.02 s
3	Czechoslovakia	František Brož Jiří David Miroslav Horčic Zdeněk Pospíšil	41.3 s	41.46 s
4th	Cuba	Evelio Planas Samuel Anderson Angel García Rafael Fortún	41.5 s	41.67 s
5	Nigeria	Titus Erinle Rafiu Oluwa Karim Olowu Muslim Arongudade	41.9 s	42.01 s

final

space	Season	occupation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	United States	Dean Smith Harrison Dillard Lindy Remigino Andy Stanfield	40.1 s	40.26 s
2	Soviet Union	Boris Tokarew Levan Kalyayev Levan Sanadze Vladimir Sukharev	40.3 s	40.58 s
3	Hungary	László Zarándi Géza Varasdi György Csányi Béla Goldoványi	40.5 s	40.83 s
4th	Great Britain	McDonald Bailey William Jack John Gregory Brian Shenton	40.6 s	40.85 s
5	France	Alain Porthault Étienne Bally Yves Camus René Bonino	40.9 s	41.10 s
6th	Czechoslovakia	František Brož Jiří David Miroslav Horčic Zdeněk Pospíšil	41.2 s	41.41 s

Date: July 27, 1952, 5:10 p.m.

The relay with the fastest individual runners was the US team. In the final, they met the reigning European champion from the Soviet Union. This team looked for their chance in perfectly rehearsed changes. The USSR initially took the lead, but was overtaken after the second change by Lindy Remigino, the Olympic champion in the individual discipline, at the exit of the curve. The 200-meter gold medalist Andrew Stanfield was just two tenths of a second ahead of Vladimir Sucharev. That brought the US relay the Olympic victory over the Soviet Union. In third place came Hungary only two tenths behind and Great Britain was in fourth place a further tenth of a second behind.
The Olympic record of the US relay from Berlin 1936 - u. a. with Jesse Owens - also remained untouched here in Helsinki . No season could break the 40-second mark.

In the eighth Olympic final, the US season went to the seventh victory. All victories were achieved in a row.

literature

• Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 2: 1948–1968, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 1st edition 1969, SS 99f

Web links

• SportsReference 4 × 100 m , accessed on September 27, 2017
• Official report p. 302f, engl. (PDF), accessed on September 27, 2017

Individual evidence

1. ↑ IAAF Statistics Handbook, Berlin 2009, page 561 ( Memento from June 29, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
2. ↑ ^{a b c d} Official report p. 266, engl. (PDF)
3. ↑ SportsReference (Eng.)