1952 Summer Olympics / Athletics - Marathon (Men)

sport	athletics
discipline	Marathon run
gender	Men
Attendees	66 athletes from 32 countries
Competition location	Helsinki Olympic Stadium (start and finish)
Competition phase	July 27, 1952
Medalist Emil Zátopek ( TCH )   Reinaldo Gorno ( ARG )   Gustaf Jansson ( SWE )

The men's marathon at the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki was held on July 27, 1952. 66 athletes took part, 53 of whom were able to finish the race. The start and finish was the Olympic Stadium in Helsinki .

The Czechoslovak Emil Zátopek became Olympic champion . He won ahead of the Argentinean Reinaldo Gorno and the Swede Gustaf Jansson .

Existing records

World best	2: 20: 42.2 h	Jim Peters ( Great Britain )	Chiswick , UK	June 14, 1952
Olympic record	2: 29: 19.2 h	official: Son Kitei ( Japan ), actually: son Kee-chung ( Korea )	Berlin , Germany	August 9, 1936

Note: World records are not set in marathons due to the different track conditions.

Routing

The starting point of the marathon course was the Olympic Stadium . From the stadium, the route led north via Hauptstrasse 45. The Olympic Village in Käpylä and Helsinki-Vantaa Airport were passed. The city of Vantaa was crossed. There was a turning mark five kilometers beyond the Tikkurila district . The route led back to the Olympic Stadium on the same route. With the exception of the cinder track in the stadium, the entire course was on asphalt.

The race

Date: July 27, 1952, 3:25 p.m.

With pleasant weather conditions around 18 ° C, the pace was quickly increased after the start. The Briton Jim Peters , who had set the best time in the world a month before this competition, quickly gained a lead of 100 meters over the rest of the field. He was able to keep the lead up to kilometer 13. A short time later he was overtaken by the Swede Gustaf Jansson and the Czechoslovak Emil Zátopek, who had already won the 5000 and 10,000 meters . Peters had fallen back halfway, ten seconds back. The gap grew to over a minute at kilometer 30. After the Argentine Reinaldo Gorno also ran past him, Peters had to pay tribute to the high pace. Totally exhausted, he got out of the race at kilometer 32.
In the meantime, Zátopek was able to break away from Jansson and ran out a lead of 26 seconds. Shortly before the stadium it was already two minutes ahead. Gorno had caught up with the Swede as well. Zátopek arrived at the stadium smiling and in good shape, very different from the snorting and crumpling runner known from other races. Emil Zátopek was the first and to this day only athlete who managed to win the 5000 and 10,000 meter competitions as well as the marathon at an Olympic Games. Zátopek improved the Olympic record from 1936 by more than six minutes.
Gorno, also in good shape, finished second. Jansson came in third. Three runners fought for fourth place, the decision was not made until the last kilometer. The Korean Choi Yun-chil finally came fourth ahead of the Finn Veikko Karvonen and the 1948 Olympic champion Delfo Cabrera from Argentina. Up to 20th place, all athletes were faster than Cabrera four years ago. None of the 53 runners who crossed the finish line stayed above the three-hour mark.

Bottom line

Left Olympic champion Emil Zátopek (TCH), right Reinaldo Gorno (ARG)

Veikko Karvonen (FIN) finished fifth.

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Emil Zatopek	Czechoslovakia	2: 23: 03.2 h	OR
2	Reinaldo Gorno	Argentina	2: 25: 35.0 h
3	Gustaf Jansson	Sweden	2: 26: 07.0 h
4th	Choi Yun-chil	South Korea	2: 26: 36.0 h
5	Veikko Karvonen	Finland	2: 26: 41.0 h
6th	Delfo Cabrera	Argentina	2: 26: 42.4 h
7th	József Dobronyi	Hungary	2: 28: 04.8 h
8th	Erkki Puolakka	Finland	2: 29: 35.0 h
9	Geoff Iden	Great Britain	2:30: 42.0 h
10	Wally Hayward	South African Union	2: 31: 50.2 h
11	Syd Luyt	South African Union	2: 32: 41.0 h
12	Gustav Östling	Sweden	2: 32: 48.4 h
13	Victor Dyrgall	United States	2: 32: 52.4 h
14th	Luis Celedón	Chile	2: 33: 45.8 h
15th	Janus van der Zande	Netherlands	2: 33: 50.0 h
16	Viktor Olsen	Norway	2: 33: 58.4 h
17th	Mikko Hietanen	Finland	2: 34: 01.0 h
18th	Charles Dewachtere	Belgium	2: 34: 32.0 h
19th	William Keith	South African Union	2: 34: 38.0 h
20th	Yakov Moskachenkov	Soviet Union	2: 34: 43.8 h
21st	Mihály Esztergomi	Hungary	2: 35: 10.0 h
22nd	Doroteo Flores	Guatemala	2: 35: 40.0 h
23	Jean Simonet	Belgium	2: 35: 43.0 h
24	Jakob Kjersem	Norway	2: 36: 14.0 h
25th	Katsuo Nishida	Japan	2: 36: 19.0 h
26th	Keizo Yamada	Japan	2: 38: 11.2h
27	Feodossi Vanin	Soviet Union	2: 38: 22.0 h
28	Grigory Suchkov	Soviet Union	2: 38: 28.8 h
29	Henry Norrström	Sweden	2: 38.57.4 h
30th	Dieter Engelhardt	BR Germany	2: 39: 37.2 h
31	Cristea Dinu	Romania	2: 39: 42.2 h
32	Jean Leblond	Belgium	2: 40: 37.0 h
33	Choi Chung-sik	South Korea	2: 41: 23.0 h
34	John Systad	Norway	2: 41: 29.8 h
35	Jaroslav Šourek	Czechoslovakia	2: 41: 40.4 h
36	Tom Jones	United States	2: 42: 50.0 h
37	Robert Prentice	Australia	2: 43: 13.4 h
38	Muhammad Havlidar Aslam	Pakistan	2: 43: 38.2 h
39	Adolf Gruber	Austria	2: 45: 02.0 h
40	Paul Collins	Canada	2: 45: 58.0 h
41	Vasile Teodosiu	Romania	2: 46: 00.8 h
42	Erik Simonsen	Denmark	2: 46: 41.4 h
43	Ludwig Warnemünde	BR Germany	2: 50: 00.0 h
44	Ted Corbitt	United States	2: 51: 09.0 h
45	Claude Smeal	Australia	2: 52: 23.0 h
46	Asfo Bussotti	Italy	2: 52: 55.0 h
47	Winand Osiński	Poland	2: 54: 38.2 h
48	Svend Sørensen	Denmark	2: 55: 21.0 h
49	Joseph West	Ireland	2: 56: 22.8 h
50	Rudolf Morgenthaler	Switzerland	2: 56: 33.0 h
51	Abdelgani Abdel Fattah	Egypt	2:58:09.2 h
52	Surat Singh Mathur	India	2: 56: 56.0 h
53	Artidoro Berti	Italy	2: 58: 36.2 h
DNF	Ahmet Aytar	Turkey
	Muhammad Ben Aras	Pakistan
	Lionel Billas	France
	Stanley Cox	Great Britain
	José Corsino Fernández	Argentina
	Raúl Inostroza	Chile
	Hong Jong-o	South Korea
	Franjo Krajčar	Yugoslavia
	Egilberto Martufi	Italy
	Jim Peters	Great Britain
	Constantin Radu	Romania
	Yoshitaka Uchikawa	Japan
	Luis Velásquez	Guatemala

literature

• Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 2: 1948–1968, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 1st edition 1969, pp. 81–83

Web links

• SportsReference Marathon , accessed September 26, 2017
• Official report pp. 289-293, engl. (PDF), accessed on September 26, 2017
• Athletics - Men's Marathon - Helsinki 1952 Summer Olympic Games , published March 4, 2010 on youtube.com, accessed September 26, 2017

Individual evidence

1. ↑ IAAF, World Records / German Records / | the best of all time, marathon men
2. ^ Official report, sketch of the marathon course p. 306, engl. (PDF)
3. ↑ Official Report, Timetable p. 266, engl. (PDF)
4. ^ Official report, summary of the race p. 255, engl. (PDF)